


Feylai Arc

by wrunic



Series: Guardians of Sakaeli [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, High Fantasy, Magic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-13
Updated: 2020-01-19
Packaged: 2020-03-02 10:02:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 34,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18808918
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrunic/pseuds/wrunic
Summary: Look, if you're reading this, you know what's up





	1. Katali

“Explain?!” Ora exclaimed incredulously, taking a step toward the necromancer. Her hands were clenched into fists by her sides. “There’s nothing to _explain_ , you-”

“Hey,” Ilei said, holding the hand not on her sword in front of Ora to keep her from advancing, “Go get Ral and Eju, okay? And something to tie her up with.”

Ora shot the necromancer a look of pure loathing, and Ilei knew, in that moment, that if Ora was less dignified, she would have spit at her feet. 

“Fine.” She turned on her heel and walked away, and Ilei saw her force her hands flat before she disappeared into the trees.

She looked back at the necromancer, who seemed to be trying to shrink back into her cloak.

“I’m sorry,” she said quietly, addressing the sentence more to the dirt than Ilei.

_What, Katali? She was more scared than the people we were after half the time, and she sure as Hells never killed anyone._

Ilei sighed and ran her free hand over her face.

“I don’t know what you’re apologizing for, since there’s a bit of a list, but you can go through everything when everyone gets here, okay?”

The necromancer—Katali, referring to her by her powers was weird when she remembered her name— nodded, still huddled as deep into her cloak as she could be without hiding her hands and face.

Ilei felt kind of silly standing in front of someone so obviously terrified with her sword pointed at them, and she briefly contemplated just returning it to its scabbard, but the other three arrived before she could.

Ora still looked furious, while Bahral and Eju just seemed generally grim. Bahral was holding a rope, and Katali held her hands out helpfully so he could tie them.

With that taken care of, Ilei sheathed her sword, stepping away from Katali to stand between Ora and Eju.

“Why are you here?” she asked, when she figured out that no one else was going to.  
Katali hesitated for a moment, staring at her bindings to avoid looking at them directly.

“I… I want to join you.”

Bahral laughed loudly, the one that meant he’d been caught off guard by something amusing.

Katali looked up then, her expression hovering somewhere between startled and confused.

“I do,” she insisted defensively, “really!”

Ora seemed ready to retort, likely with something as venomous as what she’d said when Katali first arrived, but Eju spoke first.

“Why?”

It wasn’t mocking or incredulous. The intensity of their gaze might have made it seem accusatory, but their tone was simply curious.

“I never wanted to join Ixaya and Saresh. But because of, of my powers, I didn’t think I had a choice. It wasn’t so bad at first, but it just kept getting worse, and then today when we were fighting I just…” she trailed off, picking at the rope with her nails, “I couldn’t anymore.”

There was a long pause, and Katali spoke again, more quickly this time, desperate. “And I know that doesn’t… that it doesn’t sound like it means anything and it’s not specific but I don’t know how else to say it. Sorry.”

Ora huffed out a breath. 

“Do you have more rope, Bahral?”

He nodded, and she gestured at Katali. 

“Tie her to the tree, we need to talk.”

Bahral nodded again and did as she asked. Katali went easily, sitting with her back to the tree and staying perfectly still as he wound the rope around her torso. 

Ora waited until he finished before walking back to their earlier campsite, the rest of the group trailing behind her.

“I don’t think she’s lying,” Ilei said as soon as they stopped moving. She knew it sounded crazy, so she needed shock factor to work for her in order to get everything out.

“I talked to Saresh while we were fighting, and the way he talked about Katali lined up with what she just said. She didn’t want to be with them.” She paused and closed her eyes, knowing that what she was about to say wasn’t going to go over well. “So I think we should let her stay.”

Ora snorted. “Right, because Saresh is _such_ a trustworthy source of information.”

She had a point, but Ilei _knew_ she was right about this. She just wished she had more than her gut to prove it. 

She looked at Bahral pleadingly, but he just shook his head.

“Sorry Ilei, but I’m with Ora on this one.”

Ilei couldn’t hide the slight slump of her shoulders, however expected the response.

Bahral winced at her reaction. “Look, our luck with picking up travellers hasn’t been great. Kuya turned out to be a creepy spider monster who tried to eat Ora, Pilenya betrayed us, Hells, _Eju_ tried to kill us a few times before they chilled out, and we didn’t have any real reason not to trust them initially.” He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the tree where they’d left Katali. “She’s tried to hurt or kidnap us several times already, and honestly, I’m not that comfortable having her around my friends.”

“They destroyed my home,” Ora said when he finished, voice cold, “and the homes of hundreds of others. They killed people, leveled entire _villages_ , and we’ve spent the past month trying to stop them from ever doing it again. After everything she’s done, I won’t- I _can’t_ pretend it never happened.”

Ora flexed her fingers again, removing them from where they’d curled into the fabric of her dress.

Ilei glanced at Eju, who’d been unusually quiet during the conversation. They looked pensive, and only spoke when they saw Ilei looking at them.

“I think she should stay.”

The declaration rippled through the group like a shockwave.

“Think about it logically,” Eju said, shifting their weight to one hip as they prepared to launch into what was clearly a thoroughly prepared monologue, “you managed to take a six hundred and seventy-three year old fairy, who’d never cared about anyone in their life, and, as Bahral pointed out, nearly killed you several times, and made them into someone who’s so afraid of losing their friends they willingly hosted a vengeance spirit to try and avoid that. You didn’t have any reason to trust me either, and, honestly, I’ve been around for long enough that I’ve probably done more harm than she can possibly have achieve in her lifetime. When you took me in, it was to keep an eye on me and make sure I didn’t do any harm, right? And by sheer force of exposure, I ended up,” they waved their hands up and down their body, “ _heroic_. Don’t you think having her somewhere where you can supervise her and intervene easily is better than having her running wild?”

Ora was still scowling, and Ilei knew that she was beyond logic at this point. She was angry, and rightfully so. That was difficult to fix, even in the most reasonable people.

“Alright, they’ve got a point,” Bahral sighed, shooting Ora an apologetic look. “I don’t like it, but having her hang around heroes is probably better than turning her way and forcing her to join another criminal group.”

“That’s what I’m saying. We don’t have to like it, but it’s better than the alternative.”

Ilei, who’d agreed in the first place, didn’t say anything, waiting for Ora’s decision. Whether she knew it or not, Ora was in charge, and if she still said no, after everyone else had given their view, they’d listen.

“Fine,” Ora forced out after a few more seconds of consideration. “Go untie her. I’m going for a walk.”

She didn’t wait for an answer, turning on her heel and marching off into the woods.

The three remaining heroes waited in stunned silence for a few moments.

Eju was the first to recover, turning to Ilei with their eyebrows raised and their head tilted toward where Ora had run off to.

“Right, yeah. I’ll go check on her,” Ilei said, taking off at a light jog to catch up to Ora.

Ora was sitting on the ground when Ilei found her. She had her back pressed against a tree trunk, and the heels of her hands dug into her eyes. She was taking deep, shaky breaths, like she was trying not to cry.

Ilei sat down across from her, close enough to touch her if the need arose, but not close enough to crowd her.

They sat like that, not speaking, until Ora’s breathing calmed and she spoke.

“You probably think I’m a monster,” Ora whispered, so quietly and so suddenly that Ilei almost wondered if she’d imagined it.

“Why would I think that?” 

“Because I still hate her,” Ora said, picking at a pile of dead leaves on the ground. “Even though she wants to change, or she says she does.” Ora shifted so her knees were tucked up to her chest and she was looking at the stars peeking through the leaves, rather than at Ilei.

“It’s not just that she destroyed my home. She and Saresh and Ixaya… they forced me to do the one thing I never wanted to do. I was never a fighter, and because of her, I had to become one. I had to go back there, even though I promised myself I never would, and-” she broke off with a sharp, bitter laugh. “He got the warrior he’d always hoped for.”

Well. At least they’d identified the problem.

“I don’t think you’re a monster,” Ilei assured. “In fact, I think hating her is probably the most reasonable reaction for you to have.”

Ora’s eyes snapped from the sky to Ilei’s face, and she gave her a small smile.

“I can’t say I understand completely, but it makes sense. With everything that happened because of her, I think you’d have to be crazy not to hate her.” 

“You don’t,” Ora said simply, stating a fact. 

Ilei laughed, somewhat self-deprecatingly. “No, I don’t. I’m one of the crazy ones.”

Ora huffed and went back to picking at the leaves. “Eju and Bahral are too, apparently.”

“Yeah, well, we’ve known Eju was crazy for as long as we’ve known them, and Bahral…” she trailed off, contemplating how to phrase her point, “he probably hates her. He still doesn’t fully trust Eju, and he holds grudges like you wouldn’t believe, but he’s got a soft spot for kids, and for people who want to improve themselves.”

“I’m not sure if she can improve herself,” Ora sighed.

Ilei frowned. “I know she’s done a lot of damage, but if she’s really trying-”

Ora cut her off. “She can try all she wants, but she’s still a necromancer. She can’t undo that.”

Ilei shuddered involuntarily at the reminder. Everyone knew the stories about the last necromancer, whose reign of terror had lasted nearly thirty years and made Ixaya look like a petty thief.

“Maybe not, but she isn’t Ashaior. We can’t be sure she’ll turn out like him, and we’ll do everything we can to prevent her from going down that path.”

Ora didn’t look reassured. “Necromancy is evil. Good influences won’t change that.”

Ilei sighed. “We’ve beaten her before, and we’ll do it again if we have to. But until that’s necessary, just give her a chance, okay?”

Ora was quiet for so long, avoiding Ilei in favour of the sky again, that she was worried she was going to refuse.

“I’ll try.”

Ilei released an internal sigh of relief. “Good enough.” 

She got up and offered a hand to Ora, who accepted and pulled herself to her feet. She didn’t let go once she was standing, though, instead leaving their fingers laced together and starting to walk back to their camp.

Ilei nearly tripped over her own feet when Ora got too far ahead for her to comfortably reach without following, and Ora noticed. She turned around to look at Ilei, confused.

“People do this, right?” she asked, raising their linked hands like Ilei not seeing them was the problem.

“Yeah, I just wasn’t expecting it?” Ilei said, though it came out sounding like a question. The tonal shift was kind of giving her whiplash, but it was better than the endless barrage of angst that had preceded it, so she wasn’t complaining. 

Their hands stayed linked until they got back to camp. 

Katali had been untied, and was sitting beside the fire, huddled up in her cloak and looking at them like she couldn’t quite believe she was there. Ilei wanted to hug her, but given how thin the goodwill allowing her to stay was, she felt that would be pushing her boundaries.

She settled for a smile, which made Katali’s eyes widen in surprise. She glanced over her shoulder, like she expected Ilei to be smiling at some mysterious person behind her, but, finding no one, turned back and returned the smile. It was awkward, like her face wasn’t used to it.

The urge to hug her intensified.

When Ilei looked away from Katali, the first thing she saw was Bahral, who had his eyebrows raised so high they were practically disappearing into his hairline. 

She mouthed “What?” at him, and he pointed at her hand, still holding Ora’s.

Ilei knew without question that she was now bright red, but tried to glare Bahral into submission anyway. He looked away, hand covering his mouth like he was trying not to laugh.

Ora, gods bless her, didn’t notice, and started talking soon after.

“Did she know anything about where Ixaya might’ve gone?” she asked, addressing Eju, who was setting up sleeping mats, and happened to be the furthest from Katali.

Eju didn’t look up from what they were doing. “She’s right there, and she’s not mute.”

Ora huffed, annoyed, and Ilei felt her grip on her hand tighten.

“Did you hear the question, Katali?” she asked, before things could escalate.

Katali nodded.

“Can you answer it, please?”

Katali bit her bottom lip and shifted awkwardly in place. “She may have gone back to Kalassee, but I don’t think that’s very likely. No one really trusts her anymore.” She paused, toying with the edge of her cloak. “I can’t be sure, though. She never really told me much.”

Ora sighed and ran her free hand through her hair. “Well, that leaves us pretty much at square one.” 

Katali shrank back in on herself. “Sorry.”

Ora looked a bit taken about by the apology, and gave Katali a critical look.

“It’s not like you took away information.”

Katali looked confused.

“That means “you don’t have to apologize” in grumpy Ora language,” Bahral said in a stage whisper, and Ilei had to hold in a snort.

“ _Anyway_ ,” Ora continued, annoyed, “since we don’t have any new information, we might as well keep going towards Tuldor, and try our luck there.”

“We should tell someone about Pilenya and Uvnir, too,” Ilei added grimly. The Tuldorian army was down two soldiers, and it wasn’t fair to leave their families and superiors wondering what had happened to them.

“Yeah, but we’ll need to stop and pick up supplies on the way,” Eju said. “With another person to feed, we’ll run out of food before we get there.”

“Oh, I don’t have to eat,” Katali piped up from her seat, and everyone turned to her with varying expressions of horror on their faces.

“What?”

“Did you… not eat? With Ixaya?” Ilei asked gently, once she'd recovered her voice.

“Well, I ate most of the time, but not when we were running low on supplies. And I didn’t get first pick, unless I did really well during a raid. That didn’t happen a lot.”

There were a few seconds of stunned, horrified silence, which was only broken when Bahral rummaged through his bag, produced one of the few remaining apples, and handed it to Katali.

“I’m not hungry right now-”

“If you don’t eat that, I _will_ start crying.”

Katali looked at the rest of them for confirmation, and Ilei nodded at her. 

“It’s true. It won’t be pretty.”

Katali still didn't seem to know what was happening but she took a bite of the apple and chewed slowly while Bahral loomed at her.

When she swallowed, somewhat uncertainly, he finally looked away. 

“So, supplies, right?” 

Eju nodded. “As long as we get back to the main road, we should run into a village by tomorrow evening at the latest. We should be alright until then.”

Ora nodded solemnly. “Sounds good. But I think we should all get some rest now. It's been a long day.”

She released Ilei's hand and shot her a tight smile, which Ilei returned, to exaggerated retching noises from Bahral. 

“Hey kid!” Eju called to Katali, who turned to them with her cheeks full of apple, eyes wide. 

Eju laughed. “Your mat's over here.”

Katali looked at the four mats on the ground, realized the problem, and swallowed her apple. As soon as she opened her mouth to protest, however, Eju cut her off.

“I don't sleep. It's yours.”

“Thank you,” she said, sounding almost awed. 

Ilei wondered, then, how truly awful things with Ixaya must've been, and what could possibly have made Katali think that treatment was her only option.

Ora was frowning, staring intently at Katali as she settled down for the night.

Ilei flicked her on the forehead. “I know you don't trust her, but you can glare at her in the morning. You need sleep more than any of us.”

Ora jolted like she'd been hit much harder than she had been, and shook her head.

“Right. Goodnight, Ilei.”

Ilei smiled. “Night, Ora.”


	2. Nakimi

Katali was having a very strange morning.

She’d been given freshly cooked breakfast, and the fairy, Eju, had sat beside her while she ate. The lady knight, Ilei, had smiled at her during breakfast too, like she had the previous night.

Katali still wasn’t quite sure how to react to it.

Ora, the witch, was still giving her a wide berth. It stung a little, not being trusted, but she understood. Really, her reaction made the most sense. 

Certainly more sense than Bahral’s. He kept trying to get her to eat, but didn’t seem particularly intent on making conversation, and he’d flinch away if she moved too suddenly. 

When she finished eating, Ilei took her plate and utensils, and Katali noticed a long scratch that stretched from her eyebrow to her jaw that she hadn’t seen last night in the dark. 

“Are you okay?” she asked, pointing at her own face in the approximate location of the injury.

Ilei nodded, unconsciously brushing her fingers over it. “Yeah, it’s fine. Ral needed healing more than I did.”

Katali shot him a worried look, but he wasn’t paying attention. He hadn’t seemed hurt, but she was the one who’d hurt him, however indirectly, and if he’d required so much magic that there wasn’t any left for Ilei-

“Don’t worry. He’s pretty sturdy. And hey, we’ve only had a healer for a few weeks. I’ve got plenty of scars already, so don’t work yourself up over one more. I think I look pretty cool, anyway.”

Ilei grinned and ruffled Katali’s hair, before walking off to return the breakfast dishes to Bahral.

Katali reached up and prodded uncertainly at her own head, not quite believing that that had just happened.

“Yeah, she’s like that,” Eju piped up from beside her, and Katali jumped. She’d kind of forgotten they were there.

“It’s pretty impressive. How trusting she is. I mean, it’s definitely going to get her killed someday, but it's impressive.”

“I’m not going to-” she started, but they interrupted before she could finish her sentence.

“Not _you_ , Cahkimi,” Eju said, rolling their eyes and punching Katali lightly in the shoulder. They got up and stretched, rolling their shoulders so their wings unfurled, fluttering slightly. “Now get up. We’ve got places to be.”

Katali scrambled to her feet and followed them over to the rest of the group, who were packing everything into the bag Bahral was holding.

It never seemed to get full, and Katali watched, wide-eyed, as all the mats, cookware, and any leftovers from breakfast vanished into it, seemingly without a trace.

It was really cool. Katali had never seen magic used like that, and she was about to ask Eju about it, but before she had the chance, Ora spoke.

“Alright, here's the plan. Tuldor is two and a half days away. If we factor in stopping for food, three.”

“And if we account for getting jumped by a malevolent beast or two?” 

Katali assumed Eju was joking, since they usually seemed to be, and didn’t say anything.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” Ora declared, and she started to walk decisively away. Everyone followed, Katali nearly tripping over her own feet to keep up with them.

Eventually, Eju flew up to the front of the group to talk to Ora about something, and Ilei fell back bit by bit, until she was walking beside Katali.

“You doing okay?” 

Katali nodded, and tried smiling so it was more convincing. She really _was_ okay, but none of the group seemed to believe her when she told them that.

There was silence for a while, before Ilei finally spoke again, hesitantly.

“You know you’re allowed to say if something’s bothering you, right? We won’t get mad.”

In a vague sort of way, Katali had guessed that that was the policy for this group, given how they’d reacted to her admission the previous night. It was nice to have it confirmed, if a little strange.

“I figured, but I’m really okay. Eju’s joke threw me off a bit, but other than that, I’m good.”

Ilei winced, ever so slightly. 

“That wasn’t a joke. They were genuinely asking.”

“You guys really get attacked enough that you have to factor it into travel time?” Katali asked, incredulous.

“Well, not just attacks,” Ilei said sheepishly, scratching at the back of her neck and looking away. “Sometimes we get stopped by people who need help too, and we count that as a monster disruption.” 

“Oh,” Katali said, not sure what else to add. That hadn't really been much of an issue with Ixaya and Saresh, but she decided bringing that up with her acceptance into the group as tenuous as it was. 

“Tuldor’s pretty good about sending soldiers out, though, so it shouldn’t be too big a problem. We still might get jumped by something though, but that’s pretty standard.”

The way she said it made it seem like she was trying to be reassuring, but the imminent fear of attack, however well prepared they supposedly were, wasn’t something Katali could see herself getting used to.

Luckily, she didn’t end up having to face that particular fear, as the walk was pretty uneventful. 

They arrived at a village around noon, and split off into smaller groups to get supplies, with Katali being sent with Eju to find an extra sleeping mat while the other three got them some food.

Their mission was a success, though Katali had had to step in when Eju got worked up over the price of the mat and pulled a knife on the vendor. That kind of behaviour was something Katali could handle, at least.

In the end, they were in and out in under two hours, and well on their way to getting to Tuldor with no problems.

Of course, the moment Katali thought this was the moment everything went wrong. 

Maybe an hour after leaving the village, the ground started to rumble, almost like an earthquake, and a group of people, what looked like a hunting party, came charging past them, screaming at them to run.

Katali watched them disappear into the forest, a bit confused as to what could possibly send so heavily armed a group into a panic like that.

Fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, she didn’t have to wonder for very long, because the rumbling grew louder, now accompanied by the cracking of trees being knocked over and trampled, and a gigantic boar came charging out of the woods, heading straight at them.

It was about the size of a large city building, and moving at a speed no creature its size should’ve been able to achieve. The huge tusks jutting out of its mouth made Ilei’s sword look like a toothpick in comparaison, and Katali was beginning to wonder if joining the heroes had really been a good idea.

“Oh _hells_ , yes!” Bahral shouted from somewhere to her left, and she heard the telltale sounds of his axe being drawn and the pack being tossed aside. “I’ve always wanted to fight one of these!”

Katali, now very concerned for his sanity, watched as he charged the boar head on, heedless of the tusks, the murderous rage in its eyes, or the fact that it already had several spears sticking out of its back and didn’t seem to have noticed.

Eju followed shortly after, taking to the sky and darting around the boar’s face to distract it, while Ilei joined Bahral in a full-on assault. 

Ora, meanwhile, sighed deeply, rolled up her sleeves, and started tossing carefully aimed runes at the boar, though they didn’t seem to be affecting it much.

Katali, having finally realized that this was, in fact, happening, started to cast around for something she could use to help. It didn’t take her long, one of the joys of fighting in a forest, but she’d barely raised her arms to summon the skeleton before stopping completely.

Thousands of moments from the past two years, the pain and grief she and her powers had caused, flashed through her mind, and she lowered her arms, the glow of her magic dissipating as she did. 

Unfortunately, the glow had attracted the attention of the boar, and even when it disappeared, it could still see her. Now ignoring the four heroes trying their best to take it down, it came barreling towards Katali.

She ran as fast as she could, trying to get away, but the boar was _fast_ , and it was gaining. Panic kept her moving, but her legs were burning and she knew she was slowing down.

“Mahra!”

Katali felt the rune hit her in the side and she went flying, into a collection of bushes and out of the boar’s path.

It went thundering past her, unable to turn with the amount of momentum it had collected.

Katali watched from her position sprawled out in the thicket, as Eju managed to distract the boar long enough for Ilei to slide under its belly and impale it.

With an enraged squeal, the boar took off running in the opposite direction, leaving Ilei on the ground, bloodstained but unharmed.

She got to her feet and seemed to be about to take off after the boar, but Eju stopped her and said something that made her grin.

Katali was so focused on the scene that she didn’t notice Ora until it was too late.

“What the hells was that?” she demanded, pulling Katali roughly to her feet. She looked furious. “You could have gotten yourself, or any of us, killed! I know you can fight, you can’t expect us to bail you out every time you’re in danger!”

Katali stammered out an apology, trying her best to fight back tears and the panic rising in her throat.

“Ora, lay off her,” Ilei said gently, having arrived at some point while Ora was berating her.

“No! What she did was incredibly dangerous, and there was no good reason for her to have-”

“I didn’t want to use my powers!” Katali exclaimed, the words forcing themselves out of her without her permission.

That shut everyone up. They were all looking at her, expressions varying from confusion to concern to anger, so she continued.

“I just thought that if I’m going to be a hero, I shouldn’t be using my necromancy anymore. Since it’s evil.”

This seemed to subdue Ora, and earned her sympathetic looks from Ilei and Bahral. The most unexpected reaction was Eju, who started laughing raucously.

This continued for a few moments, before they eventually seemed to realize that no one was joining in. They trailed off, looking incredulously at each of them.

“Wait, you’re serious?”

“Um,” Katali said uneasily, “yes?”

Eju snorted. “Necromancy isn’t evil.”

It was the rest of the groups turn to give them strange looks. 

“Do you have any idea how old magic is?” Eju asked, pointing their finger accusingly at Katali.

Katali shook her head nervously, and Eju, probably sensing her distress, drew back.

“Of course you don’t. No one does. That’s my point. Magic is older than _everything_. Gods, fairies, humans, everything.” Eju paused, considering their next words. 

“The thing about “good and evil” is that people came up with it. So magic _can’t_ be evil, because it’s older than the very concept. But people aren’t perfect, and they _love_ putting things in categories, so things that scare them get put in the “evil” box, regardless of context.”

Katali frowned. “So you’re saying that evil doesn’t exist?”

Eju barked out a laugh. “No, it definitely does. I’ve met it, and it threw me off a cliff.”

Katali winced at the reminder and opened her mouth to apologize, but Eju waved her off.

“What I’m saying is that Ixaya is evil because she’s _Ixaya_. She could be nymph, a witch, or completely magicless, but she’d be evil because _she_ wanted to be. You don’t want to be evil, so you aren’t, simple as that.” They folded their hands behind their head and shrugged, casual. 

“But I, I’m-” Katali tried to stutter her way through her feelings, but the words weren’t coming.

_“The dead are supposed to stay_ dead _,” her mother hissed harshly, pulling her roughly into the house. She crouched down in front of Katali, her grip on her wrist so strong it hurt._

_“I never want you to do that again, understand?”_

“The dead are supposed to stay dead,” she said finally, and Eju gave her a skeptical look.

“You have no idea how your powers work, do you?”

“Of course I do! I can control them just fine.”

Eju waved their hand dismissively. “Yeah yeah, I know _that_ , but do you know where they come from?”

“Where other magic comes from?” Katali said uncertainly, and Eju let out a world-weary sigh.

“ _Humans_. Ora, do you still have magic left?” they asked, ignoring Katali’s attempts to question them and turning to face the witch.

She nodded, a bit uncertainly, because she didn’t have any idea what was happening either. 

"Excellent. Ilei, draw a circle around Katali with your sword, Bahral…” they looked at him for a long second. “Just get out of the way.”

Bahral shrugged and did as he was asked, backing off and settling down with his back against a tree.

“What is going _on_?” Katali finally asked, after Ilei had joined Bahral by the tree and Eju had started instructing Ora on what runes to draw around the circle.

“Oh, we’re summoning your patron,” Eju said casually, correcting one of Ora’s rune drawings with a nudge of their foot.

“My patron?”

“The source of your magic. Nakimi, the god of death.”

“Wait a second-” Katali said, preparing to step out of the circle. Ora looked about ready to interfere too, but the drawings were already done, and Eju didn’t give them any time to act.

“Yan tahira ga kiru na muiril, Nakimi.”

There was a blinding flash of light, then nothing.

***

When Katali’s awareness returned, she was floating. 

Well, not really. It was actually a little difficult to tell _what_ she was doing, exactly. Wherever she was was empty, endless glossy black spreading out in all directions. 

Then, suddenly, it wasn’t.

A figure, maybe nine feet tall, pale and willowy with pale skin and long dark hair, stood before her. They were wearing long billowing robes, and a silver half-mask shaped like a skull concealed the left side of their face.

Katali dropped to her knees, head bowed. This was without question a god, and she knew, in theory, how to properly act around one.

There was a gentle hand on her cheek, and a voice that felt older than time filling the air around her.

“You do not need to kneel for me, child.”

Katali slowly got to her feet, and raised her face to look at the god. Nakimi still towered over her, though it didn’t feel intimidating. Nothing about them did, now that she’d gotten over the initial shock of them being there. 

The part of their mouth she could see was quirked up in a sad, gentle smile. 

“I’ve heard you intend on abandoning your gift.”

Panic shot up Katali’s spine, and she opened her mouth to explain herself, but Nakimi held up a hand to stop her. 

“You don’t need to explain. I would do the same thing, in your place.” They paused, sighing. “I’m afraid I owe you an apology.”

Katali blinked, taken aback. The idea of a   
_god_ apologizing to _her_ was so ridiculous she nearly laughed, but she bit back the urge.

“You see, I thought it would be best if the mortals had a break, after the last necromancer. Some time to heal, recover from the destruction he caused. Unfortunately, time worked against me, rather than for me.” Their smile turned rueful. “Gods have a tendency to be somewhat out of touch, and I fear you bore the brunt of my error.”

They paused, and Katali spoke for the first time since Nakimi’s arrival.

“What are you talking about?”

Nakimi sighed. “Necromancy is a gift I give to mortals, once per generation. It was, anyway. Unfortunately, the one directly preceding you, I’m sure you’ve heard of him-”

Katali most certainly had. Ashaior. _Dark soul_. No one remembered what his real name was, but it hardly mattered. They remembered what he’d done.

“-gave it something of a bad reputation. I hoped the temporal distance would help, but it seems only to have helped mortals forget everyone _except_ him.” Their single exposed eye was sad, filled with bone-deep, centuries-old pain. 

“He was my biggest mistake, but not my greatest regret.” Nakimi ran their thumb over Katali’s cheekbone. “That honour goes to you, I’m afraid. Or rather, to all the pain my mistakes have caused you.”

Katali bit her lip to keep it from trembling, but the stinging of tears in her eyes was trickier to hide. 

“However,” Nakimi said gently, moving their hand from Katali’s cheek to rest on her forehead, “I hope to at least ease that today.”

Before Katali could ask what that meant, the world went dark.

***

She was in a tent. There was a woman she didn’t recognize standing over a table, studying a map spread across it. She had wild red hair and green eyes, and hadn’t registered Katali’s presence at all. Katali tried to tap her on the shoulder, but her hand simply passed through, unnoticed. 

The tent flap opened, and a man stepped inside. The woman looked up at the disturbance, and he bowed slightly.

“I did what I could, but I’m afraid he’s not going to make it.”

The woman sighed shakily and ran a hand through her hair. Katali noticed that she was wearing armour, though it wasn’t like any she’d seen before, heavy, bulky and impractical.

“Find someone to take care of this,” she said, tapping the map. “I’ll go see him.”

The man nodded and left, and the woman followed him, striding out of the tent with a calm purpose that reminded Katali of Ora. Without fully intending to, Katali followed her.

It was loud outside the tent, people in armour and carrying weapons bustling back and forth, but they all gave the woman a wide berth. It didn’t seem to be out of fear though, as she received respectful nods from most everyone she crossed. Katali guessed they were in a battle camp, and that whoever this woman was, she was important.

They walked through the camp until they came to a tent, no different from any of the dozens they’d already passed. The woman ducked inside, and Katali followed. It was dimmer than the first one had been, and had a bed pressed into one corner. There was a scythe propped against the frame, and a man lying on it. He was shirtless, with clean bandages covering most of his torso. Despite how fresh they looked, Katali could see hints of red, like he was already bleeding through them.

His eyes opened at the sound of their entry, and he smiled tightly when he saw them. Or rather, when he noticed the other woman. Katali was fairly certain no one here could see her.

“Ah, Ainok. Can’t be good news if you’re here.”

The woman laughed sharply. “ ‘Fraid not.”

Ainok made her way to the bed and knelt beside it, clasping one of the man’s hands firmly in her own.

“Do you wish to continue to fight?” she asked, and the man grinned fiercely.

“If those bastards think dying’s going to stop me, they’ve got another thing coming.”

Ainok returned his grin, leaning forward slightly so their foreheads touched.

“Damn right.”

The man coughed, and Ainok settled him gently back onto the bed. Eventually, the coughing stopped, and the man was still. Ainok sighed and drew a rune Katali didn’t recognize on his forehead.

“May your soul rest, even if your body does not.”

The vision went blurry, like it was passing by her very quickly, before suddenly stilling again.

She was on a battlefield now. Ainok was there, though she looked older, red hair shot through with streaks of grey. She was in full armour and wearing a half-skull mask like Nakimi’s.

Her visible eye glowed white, and there was a skeleton brandishing a scythe at her side.

Everything went dark again, and then Katali was standing in front of small cottage, behind a man this time. He looked to be in around his seventies, with a white beard and laugh lines crinkling the dark skin around his eyes. 

He knocked lightly on the door, and a woman opened it. She looked like she’d cried recently.

“Oh, you came!” She sounded surprised but happy and quickly stepped aside, ushering the man inside.

She led him to a chair and puttered around the kitchen, despite his assurances that it was unnecessary. He had a nice voice, deep and calming.

Finally, once the woman had gotten him to eat and drink something, he took her hands and patted them gently, to calm her.

“Now then. Who were you hoping to speak to?”

The woman swallowed and blinked heavily, clearly trying to fend off tears.

“My mother. She passed unexpectedly a few days ago, and she- she hadn’t had a chance to pass the family recipes on to me yet.”

The man smiled kindly at her. “Well, I definitely think I can manage that. What was her name, dear?”

“Margah.”

“Alright. Margah.” He shut his eyes, and silence fell over the house for a few moments. Finally, a short, plump woman took shape beside the chair, and the woman’s hand flew to her mouth to stifle more tears.

“Don’t cry, silly girl,” the ghost tutted, making her way over to her daughter and brushing ineffectually at her tears. “Thank this kind gentleman, and let’s get to work.”

The woman nodded and said a watery thank you to the man, who beamed and stood, with a bit of difficulty.

“I’ll give you two an hour. Plenty of time to get them all written down.”

The woman nodded enthusiastically and thanked him again, escorting him to the door while her mother called for her to hurry it up.

Darkness, and Katali was back to herself, stumbling away from Nakimi’s hand.

“Those,” she stammered, incredulous, “those were necromancers.”

“Yes,” Nakimi said with a faraway smile. “Ainok and Ven. The two before Ashaior.”

Katali was crying now, shaking with full-body sobs.

“And they- they weren’t-”

“No,” Nakimi interrupted softly. “Your friend Eju should remember those two, at least. Ask them when you return. They did well, sending you here.”

They cradled her face again, gently rubbing away her tears. “There now, don’t cry. You aren’t destined for evil, child. You never were.”

The words only made Katali cry harder.

“You have made two years’ worth of mistakes, and you can’t undo that. But you have a whole lifetime to make the good outweigh the bad. I know it’s a lot to ask, but I’d like for people to remember the good necromancers, by the time the next one comes around. Do you think you can do that?”

Katali took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll do my best.”

Nakimi smiled. “Then I have doubt you will succeed, Katali.”

It was the first time they’d used her name.

“Now, with any luck, Eju will have explained your situation to the others. Fairies’ long memories can useful, sometimes.” 

Nakimi placed their hand on Katali’s forehead once again, and when they withdrew it, she was back in the summoning circle, feeling more at peace than she had since her powers had manifested.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cahkimi: Faeric, means "Little Nakimi"


	3. The Dragon

Katali? Are you okay?”

Katali blinked a few times as she adjusted to being back on the mortal plane, Eju’s face gradually coming into focus before her.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she assured, waving off their concern. She stepped out of the summoning circle, wobbled precariously for a moment, then passed out. 

***

This was Ora’s curse, she’d decided. Everyone she met would, at some point or another, end up unconscious and in need of medical attention. Specifically, her medical attention.

Luckily, Katali seemed to be suffering mostly from shock and a bit of magical exhaustion, so after she’d been laid down comfortably and Ora had shooed everyone off, it only took her a few minutes to wake up.

When she did, she squinted at the area around her uncertainly for a few moments before noticing Ora, at which point she sat up quickly and scooted away from her. Ora wasn’t sure if it was because Katali was afraid of her, or because she didn’t want to risk bothering Ora, but either way, it wouldn’t stand.

“No need for that,” she said softly, and Katali stilled, though she still didn’t seem comfortable.

Ora took a deep breath. She’d had time to sort out what she wanted to say while Katali was visiting Nakimi, and some extra time to rehearse while she was unconscious, so she was as prepared as she could hope to be.

“I owe you an apology,” she began, watching with faint amusement as Katali’s eyes widened almost comically. “I was unfair to you, before. Eju explained your powers to us, with a lot more historical context and tangents than were probably necessary, and it made me realize that I may have judged you too harshly. I don’t think I can forgive you for what you did, not yet anyway, but you’re trying to atone. And if we’re mistrustful and harsh towards everyone who’s trying to better themselves, then people are eventually going to stop trying, and that’s the last thing I want.  
I don’t think I can trust you yet, not fully, but I think you deserve a chance, so…” she trailed off, extending her hand to Katali, a peace offering. “Allies?”

Katali stared at her hand for a few seconds, and Ora let her process. She’d had quite the day, after all. When Katali did eventually shake her hand, it was the least uneasy smile Ora had ever seen on her face and an enthusiastic “Allies!”

Ora, for the first time, returned the smile. “Good. Now, if you’re well enough to walk, we should probably get going again. The boar sent us on a bit of a detour, and I’m not sure how much time it’ll take us to get back on track.”

Katali nodded and got to her feet. She looked unsteady for a moment, but regained her balance quickly and didn’t seem to be in any danger of passing out again.

Ora followed, gently corralling Katali over to the others, who’d sat down a little ways away while they waited for Katali to wake up. 

Ilei grinned as soon as she saw them, and Eju darted over to ruffle Katali’s hair.

“How was it, Cahkimi?”

“Scary,” Katali said with a nervous laugh, prompting a full on guffaw from Eju.

“Eh, Nakimi has a bit of a flair for the dramatic. You don’t wear a mask like that if you don’t.”

Ora had long since learned that when it came to Eju’s seemingly infinite knowledge and connections, it was probably best not to ask. She was curious about how they’d somehow managed to meet a literal _god_ , but that was a conversation for another time.

She let Katali chat with the others while she led them down what she’d determined was the quickest path to Tuldor.

After a few minutes, there was a light tug on her arm, and she turned around to see Bahral frowning in the direction Ora had been leading them. 

“We shouldn’t go that way.”

“Why not?” Ora asked, since the area he disapproved of didn’t seem particularly dangerous, or all that different from any of the other directions.

“The magic from over there is Jovrin’s. It’s probably his territory, and I’m not really keen on getting kidnapped again.”

How they’d somehow looped back to Jovrin’s territory wasn’t immediately clear to Ora, but after a moment’s consideration, she decided it made sense. They really didn’t have any idea of the scope of what was “his”, and the trip to the Khanal’s fortress had thrown them off somewhat too.

“Alright, not that way, then,” she amended.   
She set about drawing the runes for a (very rudimentary) directional spell on the ground, with occasional corrections from Eju. 

They ended up with a path eventually, though the magic indicating it could be generously described as shaky. It was much more convoluted than the last one had been, but if it meant they wouldn’t get nabbed by a sadistic air elemental, then it was worth it. 

“Is this one better?” she asked, figuring it was probably in their best interest to check.

Bahral studied the path for a little while, before pronouncing it “as safe as you can hope for”, which was as close to “good” as they were going to get. 

So, with a healthy dose of paranoia, and a slightly more united team, they headed off.

***

Miraculously, there were no major incidents until nearly sunset. 

That’s when the dragon showed up.

Or, more accurately, when a still exhausted and slightly out of it Katali walked into a clearing without fully processing what was in it, and was promptly yanked back by the hood of her cloak when one of her more alert team members (Bahral) noticed that there was a _dragon_ in there. 

Still a bit confused, she was given over to Ilei to have the situation explained to her, while Ora and Eju crept a bit closer to investigate further, carefully remaining hidden in the trees.

The dragon was, thankfully, asleep, which Ora was eternally grateful for. It was a bit larger than the one Eju had been fighting when they’d met properly, and was an almost violent shade of red, except for its horns and spines, which were a deep, reflective black. Not being particularly experienced with dragons, that was the most she could tell. 

Eju, who was, as a general rule, more experienced with _everything_ , seemed to be getting more information from this than Ora, so she patiently waited for them to finish while Bahral, Ilei and Katali joined them.

“Okay,” Eju finally said, leaning back on their heels with a sigh, “good news or bad news?”

“Good news?” Ilei said hesitantly, ever the optimist. 

“There is none.” 

“Great,” Bahral said sarcastically. “And you phrased it that way because?”

“I was hoping you’d pick it second and I’d have time to come up with something. So, the bad news is, that’s a female. You can tell by the horn shape” they said, sticking their thumb over their shoulder in the direction of the slumbering dragon.

“And that means…” Ilei prompted.

“Well, it’s bigger and probably crankier. Also, based on the way it’s sleeping, it’s protecting something. Best case scenario, which is still pretty bad, it’s a hoard.”

“Worst case?” Bahral, this time, pinching the bridge of his nose in a way that suggested he was very close to losing it. 

“Eggs,” Eju said grimly. “Unlikely, at this time of year, but if it is, we are, quite literally, toast.”

“Wonderful,” Ora sighed. “Any chance we can just sneak past it?”

“Maybe?” Eju said, but they didn’t sound convinced. “It’d probably be safer to attack while we had the element of surprise.”

Katali, who had been quiet up until then, tentatively raised her hand. “I’m not really comfortable killing something if it’s just sleeping and minding its own business.”

Ilei nodded in agreement, as did Bahral.

“Doesn’t seem right, if she’s just protecting her hoard,” he added.

Eju frowned, but didn’t say anything further.

Ora had wanted to make a similar point anyway, so she stood from her crouch and gestured for the others to do the same.

“We walk armed. If it attacks first, we fight back. Otherwise, we leave it alone. Good?” 

Nods from everyone.

As quietly as possible, everyone got to their feet, weapons drawn, and started to walk around the dragon’s clearing. 

They’d nearly made it, but right as they were approaching the other end of the clearing, Bahral stepped on a branch. 

It cracked loudly, and Ora saw the dragon’s head shoot up from the corner of her eye. 

Ora ran, trusting the others to do the same. If they left its territory quickly, then maybe-

As if to prove her wrong, a fireball came flying over her head and landed on the ground in front of her, the force of the impact sending her reeling backwards.

“BLOODY POACHERS!”

Wait a moment.

That was a human voice, and not a familiar one. 

Before she could ponder the matter further, however, another fireball was lobbed in her direction, and she had to roll out of the way to avoid it. The dodge landed her in some bushes, which provided her with a convenient cover to regroup.

The dragon roared, and the unfamiliar voice snapped again.

“I’m controlling them just fine, worrywart! And it’s not like you’re doing anything!”

There was another roar, and the suspicion that had taken root in Ora’s mind when she’d first heard the new voice seemed confirmed. 

The dragon hadn’t been protecting a hoard, it had been protecting a person, which meant it was tame. And if there was a person around, maybe they could be reasoned with. 

Before she could talk herself out of it, she stood up, arms raised, and yelled:

“WAIT!”

The source of the voice, a man about her age whose arms were aflame, turned to look at her, eyes narrowed. She assumed that he was also the source of the fireballs, which seemed confirmed when he raised one of his arms and took aim at her.

“We aren’t poachers!” she said quickly, not confident she could dodge the next attack if it was launched at such close range. “We’re travellers, heading to Tuldor. We were trying to pass through without disturbing the dragon.”

“Why were you armed, then?” the man snarled, unconvinced. 

“We were walking past a dragon. It seemed like a good idea at the time.”

The man still didn’t seem certain, but the dragon apparently was. It had perked up at the word Tuldor, and began batting at the man’s arms to get him to lower them. 

“Fine, fine!” he yelled, swatting the dragon’s paws away. He lowered his arms and extinguishing the flames, glaring at the dragon all the while. “This is what you get for sleeping in dragon form, moron.”

The dragon huffed at him.

“I’m not taking your sass today, Lizard-Brain. Go shift and we can talk to them properly.”

The dragon grabbed a pack off the ground, and, carrying it delicately in its teeth, lumbered off into the woods until it was completely concealed by the trees.

“Idiot,” the man scoffed, rolling his eyes. His attention snapped back to Ora and he rolled them again, with perhaps even more exasperation. “You can lower your arms now. And the rest of you cowards can come out!” he yelled the last part at the surrounding shrubbery, which produced an embarrassed Ilei, indignant Eju and lightly singed Bahral, but no Katali. 

“Where is she?” Ora asked, glancing around at her feet like Katali might be hiding in the leaves. 

“Over here!” came a shaky shout from a tree above Ilei’s head. 

Katali was on one of the higher branches, hanging on to the trunk like her life depended on it. 

“I don’t think I can get down, though.”

“I’ve got you, kid,” Bahral said with a sigh, making his way over to the tree and extending his arms for Katali to drop in to. 

Katali didn’t seem particularly keen on this course of action. Ora wasn’t either, honestly, but before she could suggest something else, the man with the fire powers barked a “Get on with it!” that made Katali jump, release the branch she was holding, and fall into Bahral’s waiting arms.

Ora sighed deeply and picked her way through the undergrowth toward the new man, who was maintaining a truly impressive death glare.

He made no move to introduce himself, or speak to them at all, even once they’d all gathered together and Ora started checking everyone for injuries. Bahral’s arm hair had seen better days, but otherwise, everyone was unharmed.

She’d just finished checking Katali when someone came stumbling into the clearing. Based on the wings sprouting from the someone’s back, the only part of them Ora had a clear view of, she assumed it was the dragon.

“Hey, sorry about the misunderstanding,” the dragon said, straightening up and smiling awkwardly at them, “we’ve had some problems with poachers before, and Ep’s a little defensive now.”

The dragon had dark skin dotted with red scales, glossy black horns, fangs that showed when they smiled, and was definitely, without question, male. 

Everyone turned to look at Eju, who was gaping, open mouthed, at the dragon. 

“Eggs,” Bahral snorted, and Eju gave him a venomous look. 

The dragon’s grin faltered for a second. He’d clearly heard the short exchange, and seemed to have gleaned its meaning. 

“It happens sometimes,” he said, picking unconsciously at one of the scales on his arm. “But uh, no eggs for me.”

“Your horns-” Eju started, but the first man cut them off angrily.

“ _No. Eggs_.” It was a bit of a ridiculous sentence to try and make menacing, but he managed. 

“Right,” Ilei said, very unsubtly stepping between them, “no eggs. We’re sorry about the confusion.”

The dragon waved her off. “Like I said, happens sometimes. I’m Zeth, I was the dragon, this is Epari, he threw the fireballs.”

Epari continued to glare, and offered no further information. Zeth seemed unfazed.

“I wish he could say he’s not always like this but, uh, he is, so…” Zeth trailed off awkwardly, clearly unsure how to continue the conversation without his partner participating.

“We’ve got one of those too,” Bahral said, pointing at Eju, who stuck their tongue out at him. 

“Fairy?” Zeth asked, and Bahral nodded.

“Yours?” 

“None of your business,” Epari snapped, and Zeth grinned at him.

“He’ll tell when he’s ready. You said you were going to Tuldor, right? We are too.”

“We’d _be_ in Tuldor if you stopped sleeping in your dragon form.”

“Twice! This has happened twice, and that’s if we count this time, which we shouldn’t because they aren’t poachers!”

“Maybe not, but they are nuisances.”

Zeth put his head in his hands and sighed deeply. 

“I’m not doing this again, Ep.” He turned a slightly strained but no less genuine smile at them. “Since we’re going in the same direction, do you want to travel together? The more the merrier, and all that.”

Ora hesitated. “We wouldn’t want to impose if you don’t both want us to-”

“He’s going to do as he pleases, whatever I say. And he’ll be all mopey if you leave now,” Epari interrupted.

Ora glanced at her friends, and since none of them raised objections, she shrugged and said they’d be glad to.

Zeth beamed and herded them over to the area of clearing that had been flattened by his other form. Epari made a fire, and Ora noticed that he didn’t use any runes to do it, which ruled out the possibility of him being a witch, but didn’t really serve in eliminating much else.

He was still angrily ignoring everyone, but Zeth, Ilei, and Bahral were getting along quite well. 

“So what are you two going to Tuldor for?”

“We help run a refugee camp up near Skyesgard, and we needed some supplies.”

Ilei frowned. “Wouldn’t it be quicker to just get them in Skyesgard?”

Epari snorted, the first sound he’d made in nearly half an hour. “Probably.”

Ora was tempted to ask, but angering Epari so soon seemed like tempting fate, so she kept her mouth shut. 

“What about you guys?” Zeth asked, quickly enough that it may have been a diversion tactic.

“We need to talk to the General about some soldiers of his that were killed. And we’re trying to track the person that killed them,” Ora supplied. “We figured a city would be a good place to get that kind of information.”

Zeth’s expression turned somber. “You’re probably right. Who are you tracking? We might know them.”

Eju took over the task of explaining. “A witch named Ixaya. She’s been destroying villages in the areas around Kalassee and Tuldor for the past few years.”

“Can’t say the name is familiar, but most of the people in the camp had their villages destroyed. I can’t guarantee that they’ll be useful, but if you want to come with us and try…”

“If we don’t find any leads in Tuldor, we might take you up on that,” Ora said. “Thank you.”

“No problem,” Zeth replied, the fanged grin that was already becoming familiar spreading across his face. “I’m going to head back to bed, but we should get to Tuldor by tomorrow afternoon.”

Ora did some quick math in her head. “With this route, it should be another two days, at least.”

Epari was the one to speak this time, his voice making Ora jump. She’d assumed he was asleep. 

“Maybe if you were walking, but we travel in style.”

Eju’s eyes widened. “Wait a second, you aren’t seriously-”

“Oh yeah,” Epari said with a slightly manic grin, “you lot get to try out dragon riding.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the full effect, read Epari's lines in a Scottish accent.


	4. Tuldor

Dragon riding, it turned out, was not nearly as glamorous as the stories would have you believe, and Ora was technically one of the luckier members of her group.

Zeth’s back couldn’t fit more than three people, so they drew lots to determine who got the privilege, barring Eju, who would be flying under their own power. 

Ilei and Ora won, with Epari joining them, since he’d flatly refused to participate on the grounds that he’d been there first, and added that if they weren’t happy about it, they were welcome to walk. 

Katali and Bahral were the truly unfortunate ones, and were being transported loosely but securely in Zeth’s front talons. 

Ora had considered switching with Katali, since she seemed to have a fear of heights to rival Ilei’s, if yesterday’s tree incident was any indication. When she’d tried, Katali had claimed she was fine, despite visibly shaking through the entire conversation. Ora decided it wasn’t worth pressing the matter, and had left Katali to her fate.

Now, with wind whipping through her hair and stinging her eyes, she was wondering if she should have allowed them to embark on a dragon _at all_.

Ilei was sitting behind her with her arms around Ora’s waist, gripping so hard that Ora was certain she would bruise.

She couldn’t hear anything, what with the wind tearing any sound away before it could reach her ears, but she could feel Ilei’s mouth moving where it was pressed into her shoulder. It hadn’t stopped since they’d taken off. Ora was pretty sure she was praying.

Bahral, by contrast, seemed to be having the time of his life, whooping excitedly every time Zeth took a turn. Ora could hear those, since he was in front of her. 

Ora probably would have enjoyed the experience more if it had happened before the whole incident with Jovrin. As it stood, there was a tangle of nerves in her stomach that steadfastly refused to ease, and tightened every time there was a slight change in the direction of the wind.

They were only in the air for a few hours, since they had to land a fair distance from Tuldor to avoid being shot out of the sky, which Epari and Zeth had apparently learned from experience. 

Once everyone was safely returned to the ground, Zeth went off into the woods to shift back to his human form. When he returned, he ate a triple portion of lunch and promptly collapsed for a nap. 

“Flying takes a lot out of him,” Epari explained, looking down at the snoring shapeshifter with a fond half-smile on his face. “Especially when he’s carrying five people. We’ll wake him up in a bit, but he’ll be all loopy if he doesn’t get at least a half-hour.”

“You really know him, huh?” Ilei remarked casually from her seat, and Epari stiffened. 

“He’s been bothering me for five years. You pick some stuff up,” he grumbled, carefully avoiding looking at Ilei.

This made her smile, for some reason. Ora raised a questioning eyebrow at her. 

“Later,” Ilei mouthed when Epari’s back was turned, shooting Ora a conspiratorial smile she didn’t fully understand.

They spent the half-hour of Zeth’s nap relaxing. Eju tried to teach them a fairy game, but they only seemed to remember about half the rules, and it involved a lot more magic than most of them were capable of doing, so they eventually gave up.

Shortly after that whole debacle, Epari retrieved a small vial from his pack and shook Zeth awake.

“Up and at ‘em, Lizard.”

Zeth yawned, a terrifying process that involved a lot more teeth than Ora was strictly comfortable with, and blinked sleepily at Epari. It took him a moment to adjust to the world of the waking, but when he did, the first thing he noticed was the bottle in Epari’s hand. For some reason, it made him groan loudly.

“Come on, do we have to?”

Epari glared at him. “Let's review what happened last time you didn't wear a glamour in a populated area, shall we?”

Ah, so that’s what it was. Glamours weren’t difficult if you were a witch or a species that produced them naturally, but various potions existed to help out those that couldn’t make one themselves. 

A panicked look flickered across Zeth's face. “You know what, it's fine, we don't have to, I'll just wear the-”

“No no,” Epari said, staring him down. “Tell them.”

Zeth sighed deeply and shot the rest of them a pleading look. Unfortunately, since none of them knew what was going on, they couldn’t really help him. 

“I was called an abomination unto the gods,” he muttered, keeping his eyes fixed on the ground.

“And?”

“I got kidnapped by slave traders.”

“And?”

“You had to break me out.”

“AND?”

“We are no longer welcome in the city of Skyesgard.”

Well, if nothing else, that explained why they had to go all the way to Tuldor to make supply runs. 

“Right. So what are you going to do, Scale-Face?”

“Wear the stupid glamour.”

“Damn right,” Epari said, sitting down on a stump and pulling Zeth between his legs. He shook some of the glamour out onto his hands and spread it over Zeth’s horns.

It was a strange thing to watch, since they seemed to be wiped out of existence, every place the glamour came into contact shimmering briefly before blending in perfectly with whatever was behind it.

Once Epari was done with the horns he moved on to the scales on Zeth’s face, before prying his mouth open and rubbing some on his teeth until they looked mostly normal.

Zeth submitted to the manhandling with little complaint. This was clearly something that happened a lot, and they were both used to it. 

The wings were next, then his tail, until Zeth looked almost entirely human. 

Epari corked the bottle, returned it to the pack, and pronounced Zeth finished. 

“Actually,” Eju said, the smugness of their tone instantly setting Ora on edge. That was their plotting voice. “You forgot his eyes.”

Zeth sent Eju a look of utter betrayal. Epari sighed and fished the vial out of his bag, but before he could do anything with it, Zeth bolted.

“GET BACK HERE, YOU UNGRATEFUL REPTILE!” Epari yelled, dropping the pack in favour of chasing after him down. 

For a few minutes, the sound of yelling, snapping branches and running feet was all Ora could glean of the struggle, but eventually Zeth burst out of the trees, Epari hot on his heels.

In a daring final move, Epari leapt forward and tackled Zeth from behind, twisting him around to face him once he’d successfully pinned him.

He shook a few drops of glamour into each of Zeth’s eyes, ignoring his protests.

Now humanized to Epari’s satisfaction, Zeth sat up and pouted at him. This was met with no sympathy from Epari, who smacked him on the back of the head and called him a moron. 

“This is for _you_ , ingrate. You’re the one who’d be sold to some crazy bastard with a combat arena, not me.”

“It feels weird!” Zeth whined, blinking a few times and wrinkling his nose. “And I can’t see properly.”

“You know what else feels weird?” Epari asked, pulling Zeth roughly to his feet. “Shackles.”

“I know, I know,” Zeth said, rolling his shoulders and stretching a bit. He turned to the rest of them with a bright grin that felt slightly off, being devoid of fangs.

“Everybody ready to go?”

“I think we should split up once we get there, so we can get through as much as we can today,” Ora said. “Eju, Katali, and Bahral can ask people about Ixaya, Ilei and I can go tell the General about Pilenya and Uvnir.”

Epari rolled his eyes. “Got a job for us, Your Highness?” 

Ora blinked, taken aback. “Well, no. You came here for your own purposes, I won’t interfere with that.”

Zeth stifled a laugh. “He was trying to insult you,” he explained, patting a grouchy Epari on the shoulder. 

“Oh.” Ora turned to her friends. “Do any of you object to the groups?”

“I _was_ wondering why Katali was with us,” Bahral said, more for the sake of giving Ora an excuse to explain her groups than because he actually doubted her. 

“She knows the most about Ixaya, so between you being intimidating and Eju knowing the best places to ask, it seemed like the most efficient way to get good information,” Ora said, all in one go.

“Ohhhhh, okay,” Bahral said with exaggerated relief, raising his eyebrows at Epari in challenge.

He didn’t say anything, or even appear to notice, but Zeth did, and when they did eventually leave, he made his way over to Ora and tapped her on the shoulder.

“I’m sorry about Epari. He doesn’t really like being told what to do, especially by people he doesn’t know very well. He barely listens to Aelyss, and we’ve been working for her for almost a year.”

“Is that someone at your camp?”

“Yeah! She’s in charge of our group, you’ll meet her if you end up coming with us. I think you’ll like her.”

Ora smiled. “I hope so.”

“Me too. It would be really awkward if the two leaders didn’t get along.”

“I- I’m not! We all just, kind of-” Ora sputtered, before finally giving up and restarting. “I’m not.”

Zeth laughed outright at this. “Whatever you say.”

Then he walked off to join Epari, and Ora didn’t see him again until they reached the gates.

Kalassee had its wall, and Tuldor, apparently, had gates. They were as tall as the wall had been, beautiful black wrought iron that showed off the city while keeping it separated from the world outside.

There were two guards stationed at the base, an orc and a human. They were wearing full armour, with a crest on their breastplates, stylized silver antlers against a deep blue backdrop.

They both snapped to full attention when they noticed the group approaching, but Zeth waved at them, unconcerned. 

“Back so soon?” the orc teased, lowering her weapon, some lance-like thing Ora didn’t recognize. “Thought we wouldn’t be seeing you for another few months, at least.”

“You know them?” the other guard asked, not fully relaxed just yet.

“Those two, yeah,” the orc replied, pointing at Epari and Zeth. “Can you vouch for the rest of ‘em?”

Zeth nodded. 

“Good. We’ll still need ‘em to register, but that shouldn’t take too long.”

The other guard gave them a final uneasy look, then reached into a pouch hanging at his hip and removed a quill and a scroll, which unfurled itself and floated over to Bahral.

“Name, species, type and number of weapons,” the guard listed, giving Bahral the quill and returning to his post.

Bahral did as he was told, and when he finished, the scroll flashed green, before moving on to Ilei. Her turn went pretty much the same way, and the scroll made its way to Eju. When they finished, it flashed red, and stubbornly refused to go on to Ora.

The human guard drew his weapon.

“If it does that, it means you’re lying about something. Fix it, or you can’t go in.”

Eju heaved a very put-upon sigh, crossed something out, then scribbled out a replacement. The scroll was appeased, and Eju passed Ora the quill so she could fill in her information.

She could only see the information her companions had written, whatever enchantment the scroll was under likely hiding the rest.

_Bahral, son of Yri. Elf. One axe._

_Ilei Jyann. Human. One sword._

_Eju Nakayash. Fairy. ~~Two~~ Seven knives._

Ora added her information and passed everything on to Katali. She wrote her name, then froze and sent Ora a panicked look.

“Just put human,” she said, softly enough that the guards couldn’t hear, and Katali did, though her hands were trembling so badly that it was nearly illegible. She finished, and Ora held her breath, waiting for the scroll’s verdict. It flashed green and floated back to the guard. 

Katali looked so relieved Ora was half afraid she was going to pass out again, but she didn’t.

“Alright, you’re allowed in,” the orc said, while the other guard signaled someone stationed at the top of the gates to open them. “You’ll have to do more paperwork if you end up staying more than a week, though.”

“We don’t intend to,” Ora said with a small smile.

“Great,” Eju said sarcastically. “Now we’ll end up moving in.”

The guards had coordinated the opening of the gates, and they’d all made it inside. They were still walking away from the main gates, down a cobbled road with low stone walls on either side of it.

“Hey.” Bahral smacked them lightly upside the head. “No negativity in this group.”

“I’m going with Ilei and Ora, then.”

Ilei grinned. “Sorry, none allowed here either.”

“Fine. I’ll strike out on my own.”

“Nah, you love us too much,” Bahral said, bumping their shoulder with his own. “Turned evil for a bit to prove it, even.”

Katali, who had been listening quietly until that moment, gave Bahral an alarmed look. 

He laughed loudly and ruffled her hair. “I’ll explain as we go, kid.”

They’d made it to the city proper now. The path they were on widened into a street lined with wooden and stone buildings, shops and houses and businesses. Zeth, who’d been leading the way, stopped and turned to face them.

“We’ll meet you in the Plaza at sundown, okay?”

“The Plaza?” Ilei asked, conveniently saving Ora from having to do so.

“It’s a public square in the center of the city. You can there easily from pretty much anywhere, just ask someone for directions.”

Ilei nodded. “Sounds good. See you all at sundown.”

Zeth waved goodbye, and Epari grunted before following him, which was honestly more than Ora had expected from him.

Eju frowned at the people in the street, pensive. “We should try and find a market. There’s always gossip at markets.”

“Seems reasonable,” Bahral said with a shrug. 

Ilei pulled him into a quick hug, then did the same to a stunned Katali. She turned to Eju next, but they’d pulled out one of their knives and was glaring menacingly, so she backed off.

“Don’t kill anyone,” she said instead, and they snorted, not bothering to answer before marching away toward the city, Katali and Bahral following close behind. 

“We’ll go find the army headquarters, I suppose,” Ora said uncertainly, the whole incident making her wonder if she should maybe have kept Katali with her and Ilei.

“Probably a good place to start,” Ilei agreed, grabbing Ora’s hand and leading her toward one of the shops.

“ _Ehka’s Herbs_?” Ora asked, eyeing the sign with mounting suspicion. “What are we going in here for?”

“It’s as good a place as any to ask for directions, right?” Ilei said, nudging the door open and pulling Ora inside.

A harried looking woman with messy hair was at the counter, tapping her foot and glancing over her shoulder at regular intervals. 

The man behind the counter, by contrast, was well-groomed and calm, unhurried as he packaged her purchase.

“-and with the hawksbreath, that’ll be eighteen pieces.”

That seemed a bit high to Ora, but she supposed getting plants into the city would be more difficult than simply picking them yourself, especially with the tight security at the gates.

The woman counted out the money and slid it across the counter, the foot tapping increasing in speed as the man finished stowing the coins.

Finally, he pressed the herbs into her hands with a beatific smile. “This should clear your son’s cough in no time.”

Ora whirled around to look at the man behind the counter, aghast.

“I’m sorry, a _cough_?” she exclaimed, walking over to the counter and giving the shopkeep an incredulous look. “You suggested hawksbreath for a _cough_?”

“And elgary,” the woman said, holding up the bag containing her purchases for Ora to see. 

“Elgary’s good,” Ora said, reaching into the small bag and removing the offending herb, “But hawksbreath is useless. You plant it in gardens to keep away pests, it won’t do anything for a cough.”

The man, who had been stunned into silence since Ora’s first exclamation, regained himself enough to splutter indignantly. “Of course it will!”

Ora stared him down. Necromancers, crazed witches out for blood, monsters of all shapes and varieties, those were still somewhat out of her depth, but this, healing, she knew. She wasn’t about to let this woman be conned if she could prevent it. Ora addressed her directly.

“Take the elgary, and make it like a tea. Have your son drink two cups a day until his cough clears up. Buy more if you need, but I’d suggest getting it elsewhere.”

The woman nodded, looking somewhat overwhelmed.

“As for you,” she said to the shopkeep, “you’ll pay this poor woman back for the hawksbreath.”

“I’ll do no such thing!” he cried, apparently having finally decided to put his foot down. “She already bought it.”

“And now she’s returning it,” Ora said, her voice deathly calm. “I’m sure the guard doesn’t take too kindly to schemes like this, and you wouldn’t want them finding out about it, would you?”

The man gulped, and produced ten pieces from behind the counter, which he gave to the woman.

She took them, thanked Ora, and walked out the door, breaking into a run as soon as she crossed the threshold.

Ora gave the shopkeep a final look of profound hatred. “You should be ashamed of yourself. Exploiting people at their most vulnerable like that, it’s loathsome.” She didn’t wait for a reply, instead turning on her heel and marching out the door, grabbing Ilei by the wrist and dragging her out behind her. 

“That was amazing,” Ilei whispered once they were outside. She sounded dazed.

“I cannot believe the nerve of that, that _charlatan_ ,” Ora spat, her hands clenching unconsciously into fists. “That kind of behaviour goes against everything a healer should be!”

Ilei made a small, pained noise. “Wrist, Ora.”

“What? Oh, sorry.” Ora released Ilei and focused her rage on her dress instead. “To claim you want to help people, only to betray them like that. It’s unforgivable!”

“I know,” Ilei said soothingly, gently prying Ora’s hands out of her dress and forcing them flat, “but you helped that woman, and he’ll probably never get business again. Word travels fast about stuff like this.”

Ora let out a frustrated huff. “I know, it’s just… That can’t possibly be the first time he’s done this. And I can’t help those people.”

“There’s no way you could have. You’d never even been to Tuldor before today. You did the best you possibly could, so try and let that be enough, okay?”

Ora sighed. “Fine. Let’s ask someone else for directions.”

“That’s the spirit,” Ilei said with a smile, squeezing Ora’s hands once before releasing them. “And you were incredible in there, by the way. I think that’s the most afraid of you I’ve ever been.”

Ora rolled her eyes. “Come on, you’ve seen me throw fireballs at people.”

“And that doesn’t even compare. You were terrifying. In a good way.”

Ora gave her a sidelong look. “Terrifying in a good way?”

“It’s a very particular skill,” Ilei said with a shrug, and Ora laughed, the last of her anger finally draining itself out.

***

They managed to find someone to give them directions, and made it to the headquarters after about an hour.

There was a single guard stationed outside, wearing the same kind of armour as Pilenya and Uvnir, rather than the one with the insignia like the two guards at the gate.

“State your business,” he snapped when they approached, sounding annoyed.

“We have some deaths to report,” Ilei said. “Two soldiers.”

“I see.” Any lingering air of haughtiness evaporated, and he stepped aside to let them through. “Say you’re looking for the Scribe.”

They started inside, but he grabbed Ilei’s shoulder as she passed him. She looked ready to shake him off, but before she could, he asked, in a sad, defeated tone:

“Who was it? If you don’t mind saying.”

“Pilenya Danare and Uvnir. We don’t know his last name.”

The guard’s shoulders slumped, and he wiped his face under his helmet. “Franess. His last name was Franess.”

Ilei clapped him on the shoulder, but didn’t say anything further. Her face was grim but determined, and she gestured for Ora to follow her inside.

She did, glancing over her shoulder at the guard once, wanting to say something, anything. His posture had been perfect before, but he was now leaning most of his weight on his spear. She looked away. 

Once they entered the building, they were met by a collection of people sitting behind desks, all scribbling away at scrolls like the one they’d registered on at the gates.

“We’re here to see the Scribe,” Ilei told the room at large. 

One of the people pointed at a door to the left of the room without looking up from her paper. Ilei looked at Ora and shrugged.

“Might as well try.”

They went over together. Ora opened the door and stepped inside, Ilei following close behind. The room was populated nearly entirely by books, quills, and floating scrolls. There was also another desk, this one with a short, bald man wearing a white scarf sitting on it. He looked up when they walked in, and blinked, surprised.

“I don’t recognize you.”

“We aren’t from here,” Ora explained. “We’ve come to report a death. Two deaths.”

The man pursed his lips. “I see.”

He waved his hand, and one of the scrolls zipped over and settled in front of him. It was joined shortly after by a quill.

“Their names, please.”

“Pilenya Danare and Uvnir Franess.” 

The quill wrote the two names without any help from the Scribe, who simply sighed. 

“Their families will be notified. What were the circumstances of their deaths?”

Ilei opened her mouth to answer, but cut off with a small, choked sound and shook her head.

Ora laid a hand on Ilei’s arm and squeezed once, trying to be reassuring, and spoke in her place.

“A battle with a witch named Ixaya. They both fought bravely.”

The Scribe nodded, and the quill added the information to the scroll.

“Thank you for coming to tell us. Not all would be so kind.” He glanced over at one of the thicker volumes in the room, labelled “Missing”. 

“It was the least we could do,” Ora said with a tight smile.

The Scribe returned it, just as strained. “You may see yourselves out.”

Ora took Ilei from the room, pulling her gently along. She’d held up so well in front of the guard, but Ora supposed everyone had a breaking point. That fight had been difficult on everyone.

They had to go past the guard again to leave. He seemed just as dejected as before, and Ora felt her throat tighten further at the sight.

Ilei pulled away and walked up to the guard, squaring her shoulders as she went.

“I’m sorry,” she said. Her voice was trembling. “I’m sorry we couldn’t do more for them.”

The guard didn’t say anything, but he nodded once, firmly. A silent acknowledgement. 

Ora didn’t know what else to do, so she went over to Ilei, took her hand with a soft “Come on”, and led her away.

***

They made it to the Plaza, though Ilei didn’t seem quite back to herself until they arrive.

Ora bought them some mutton from one of the many food stalls and had them sit on a low wall around the fountain at the Plaza’s center to wait for the others.

Epari and Zeth were the first to rejoin them, having apparently had good luck finding what they needed. They were planning on staying the night in one of the taverns before heading back to camp, and suggested that the rest of them do the same.

“Getting in or out of the city at night is bloody impossible,” Epari explained. “The Guard is paranoid.”

“The Guard is _cautious_ ,” Zeth corrected. “The Queen’s only been in power a month, can you blame them?”

Epari sniffed disdainfully. “They’ve been like this for as long as we’ve been coming here. I think they’re just cowards.”

They continued to bicker and Ora mostly tuned them out, picking her way slowly through her meal. 

Eju, Bahral and Katali arrived a bit later, looking exhausted.

“No one knew anything,” Eju snapped before they even asked how it had gone. 

“The closest we got was a woman with a cousin named Ixaya,” Bahral groaned, lying down on the wall beside Ilei.

“Could that have been her?” Ilei asked, trying to be optimistic.

Katali shook her head. “She’s eighty-four.”

“She _was_ eighty-four,” Eju corrected, seething with barely contained rage. “She’s been dead for two years.”

“I suppose that means we’re going with Zeth and Epari in the morning,” Ora said. Hopefully they’d have better luck at the camp.

“Just so long as I don’t have to listen to another gossip chain from a fishmonger,” Eju said darkly. Bahral reached up and patted them on the shoulder, apparently unwilling to get up just yet.

“I’m pretty sure there are more rooms where we’re staying,” Zeth suggested. “We might as well go now. I think we could all use an early night.”

There were a few muffled noises of agreement, and everyone forced themselves to their feet to follow him.

They were all too exhausted to talk, so the walk there was mostly quiet, until there was a small tug at Ora’s sleeve.

She looked over to see who was responsible. 

It turned out to be Katali, who pointed at some red paint on the face of one of the buildings. It took Ora a moment to realize that they were runes, and another to realize that she recognized one of them. 

_Khana._

“Eju,” she said urgently. “What does this say?”

The fairy appeared at her side and studied the runes.

“Khana ga kiri,” they said finally, face grim. “Kill the Queen.”


	5. Khana ga Kiri

Ora paced nervously in front of the large doors of the throne room, glancing at them periodically and hoping for some hint of when they were going to be allowed in.

After they’d found the graffiti the previous night, the whole group had spent over an hour discussing what to do about it. Zeth had wanted to tell the guard, but that had been vetoed in case they were dealing with a corrupt guardsman. The next option was to schedule an audience with the Queen herself, which Eju had managed to do, using their seemingly endless connections. They’d also name dropped Ora’s father, which she hadn’t been pleased about, but it had worked. Epari and Zeth had decided to return to their camp without attending the meeting, since the errand they’d been sent on was time sensitive and they couldn’t afford to stay another day. They’d drawn up a map and a list of hazards they were likely to encounter en route, and left before sunrise.

Ora had barely slept, and she was functioning almost entirely on the jittery energy of nervousness. 

“Would you stop pacing?” Eju snapped. “You’re giving me a headache.”

They were sitting on the ground with their back pressed against the wall. Ilei was beside them, picking at the mortar with the point of her sword while Bahral napped with his head in her lap. Katali was a little ways away, making repairs to her cape with a needle and thread Bahral had found in his pack.

Ora stopped and gave the doors one last look, before sighing and joining the rest of the group against the wall. 

“It’s been nearly an hour. I’m starting to wonder if they’re going to see us at all.”

“They’d better,” Eju grumbled. “I haven’t put this much effort into meeting an authority figure since I tried to get the High Fae to repeal my banishment.”

Ilei stopped attacking the mortar to give them a curious look. “You still haven’t actually told us what you did to get yourself banished.”

Eju glared at her. “Maybe I don’t want to.”

“Look, we’re all bored, and I really don’t think there’s much you could say that would make us think less of you,” Bahral, who apparently hadn’t really been asleep, said.

Eju looked like they were going to refuse again, but instead they just heaved a world-weary sigh. “Fine. So about a year ago-”

The doors opened and a middle-aged woman wearing a guard’s uniform strode into the hall. 

“Eju Nakayash?” she said, cutting Eju off.

“That’s me,” they replied, with the smug smile of someone who’d seen this coming and was thoroughly enjoying the rage emanating from Ilei.

“Queen Maieri has accepted your audience. Follow me.”

Everyone scrambled to their feet and hurried after her, unwilling to waste this chance after waiting so long for it. 

The doors were opened for them by two other guards, who stood at attention as they passed. 

“Outside, both of you. No one is to enter.”

The guards saluted and did as they were told, slipping out and shutting the doors behind them.

The room was surprisingly simple, for a throne room. It was designed with the same delicate airiness as most Tuldorian architecture, with high ceilings supported by light stone arches and minimally decorated walls.

The only real piece of ornamentation was the throne, which was made of pale wood and elaborately carved to look like it had grown out of the floor. The queen was nowhere to be seen.

The guard was unconcerned by this, and made her way to a section of wall to the left of the throne. She pressed her shoulder against it and it swung open, revealing a small, equally bare room. 

“I hardly think this was necessary, Captain.”

“In this case, perhaps, but one can never be too cautious.”

The guard stepped aside and the queen left the secondary room, walking with easy confidence to the throne and sitting.

Ora’s eyes widened involuntarily at the sight of her. She was young, around Katali’s age, and her dress was a vibrant red, easily the most colourful thing in the room. This struck Ora as strange; red was a mourning colour in Tuldor. (Ora’s father had a red armband that he would wear sometimes, and she’d asked about it in a rare fit of bravery. She knew to avoid him on days when he wore it, after that.) However, if she’d only been queen a month, like Zeth had said, then she’d lost someone recently. Maybe several people, given her age.

Instead of a crown, like Ora had imagined, the queen had antlers, spindly and intricate things that sprouted from her skull like branches, which, if nothing else, explained the city’s coat of arms. The antlers were draped with delicate chains and red jewels, likely a substitute for the expected crown. Despite the whole affair likely weighing as much as Eju, she held her head high and stared them down with a calm authority that seemed inherently royal.

“State your business, and do it quickly. Your group has cited some prestigious names, but I have no qualms about removing you if your reasons for meeting with me are lacking.”

Ora glanced at Eju, expecting them to answer. They were the only person who’d had any experience with royalty, as far as she knew. She managed to catch their eye, and attempted to get them to speak, but they just raised their eyebrows at her and mouthed “your idea”.

Ora sighed and stepped forward, bowing slightly. 

“Your Majesty-”

“Your name, before you continue,” the queen interrupted. “I like to put faces to words on paper.”

“Maora Nurhail, Your Majesty,” Ora said, trying her best not to let any annoyance show. She doubted it would be well received.

“I see at least one of your claims was founded. Continue, please.”

“We passed some graffiti last night, Your Majesty, and we figured its contents would be of some interest to you.”

The queen held up her hand, and Ora cut her next sentence off.

“Let me guess: Khana ga kiri, written in runes with red paint?”

Ora frowned. “Yes. How did you know?”

The queen folded her hands in her lap. “This is the sixth-”

“Seventh, my Queen.”

The queen shot the guard an annoyed look. “Thank you, Captain Rinari. This is the _seventh_ incident of this type that’s been reported during my time in power, though your party is the first that’s come directly to me.”

Ilei cleared her throat, preparing to speak, and Ora winced reflexively. There were very few scenarios where this ended favourably. “With all due respect, Your Majesty, that seems like six too many. Has no one been looking into these threats?”

The queen smiled a tight, forcibly polite smile. “Your concern is appreciated, Lady…” 

“Jyann.”

“Lady Jyann, but it is misplaced. Though I was initially worried by a lack of leads, I’ve since halted investigation into the matter.”

“Why?” Bahral blurted, shrinking back apologetically when the queen levelled him with a stern glare.

“Because there have been seven threats, and none of them have been acted upon. I have a city to run, and I don’t have the resources to waste investigating a harmless fear-mongering tactic.” She waved one hand at Captain Rinari and stood, brushing off her gown. “I was not a popular choice for queen, and I refuse to crumble within my first month because of unfounded non-threats. Escort them out, Captain.”

Ilei looked as though she wanted to say more, but the Captain shot her a warning look and she relented.

Once they were outside, Captain Rinari sent the two guards from earlier back to their posts and walked them down the hall, back to the palace entrance.

“Keep walking, and don’t look at me,” she hissed under her breath, placing her hand on Ora’s shoulder and leaning in so she wouldn’t be overheard. “I’ve known Maieri since she was a kid. She has a stubborn streak to rival her grandfather’s, and she’s made up her mind about not looking into this. I’m directly subordinate to her, so my hands are tied, but you’re independent. If you want to help, I have an idea of who might be behind this.” She slipped a piece of paper into Ora’s hand and backed away, returning to a less suspicious distance from the group.

When they reached the entrance, Captain Rinari gave Ora a final, significant look, and Ora nodded. Her shoulders seemed to relax slightly, and she disappeared inside without another word.

“What was that all about?” Bahral asked, and Ora gave a quick recap of her conversation with Captain Rinari, before unfolding the paper she’d been handed.

It contained a series of directions, and a name: Calto Jaheem. 

Eju, who had been hovering (literally) over Ora’s shoulder, started at the sight of the name. 

“Jaheem?”

Ora shrugged. “Apparently. Why, do you know someone with that name?”

Eju looked wistful. “I did. A long time ago.”

Ilei frowned at the paper. “The directions are sending us out of the city.”

“Is that a problem?”

“Not necessarily, but would someone really be able to get through the city’s defenses seven different times without raising suspicion?”

Ora considered the idea for a moment. It did seem a bit strange that no one had noticed a connection like that, with the level of security at the gates.

“They could be sneaking in,” Katali suggested. “Ixaya got us into Kalassee by memorizing the guards’ shifts.”

There were a few seconds of awkward silence as everyone politely pretended Ixaya hadn’t been mentioned. 

Bahral was the one to break it. “There wasn’t much in the way of magical protections on the gates. A strong enough magic user could probably get themselves into the city.”

“This is our only lead. We might as well see it through, and if it falls through, we can always look elsewhere,” Ora said. “Agreed?”

“You do realize there’s no way this _isn’t_ going to go horribly wrong, right?” Eju asked.

Ora sighed. “Yes. But we don’t really have any better ideas.”

“We could just not get involved.”

Ilei opened her mouth, likely to embark on a passionate speech about helping those in need, but Eju cut her off before she could start.

“Yeah, okay, I know. It was worth a try.”

***

Getting out of Tuldor was significantly less of an ordeal than getting in, and once they’d left the city, the group easily followed Captain Rinari’s directions, which eventually led them to a small house in the nearby forest that reminded Ora of her old cottage. 

“Do you think anyone’s home?” Ilei asked when they found it. It didn’t seem like it; the windows were dark, and no one could hear sound inside.

“Let’s hope so.” Ora knocked, loudly enough to ensure she was heard without being rude.

Just as she’d raised her hand to try knocking again, the door swung open, revealing a scowling man with unkempt hair and a beard to rival Bahral’s.

“What do you want?” he snapped. 

“Calto Jaheem?” Ora asked, stretching to her full height in an effort to calm her nerves.

“The one and only,” he replied sarcastically. “What do you _want_?”

“We’re here on behalf of Captain Rinari.”

Calto snorted. “And what, may I ask, does the honourable Captain want with _me_?”

“Someone’s been making threats against the Queen-”

Calto cut her off. “Wait, the Queen?”

“Yes.”

“Dear gods, she finally did it.” Calto laughed, though it sounded somewhat hysterical. 

“Who did what?” Ilei asked warily.

“Rinari. She finally got rid of King Adaron.”

Ora startled at the implication. “You think Captain Rinari _killed_ King Adaron?”

“Well I sure as Hells didn’t do it. I’ve been in exile for ten years, I couldn’t care less who’s in charge.”

Eju raised an eyebrow at Calto. “And why should we believe you? Everyone we spoke to said he died of old age.” 

Ora shot them a warning look. This wasn’t the time for bluffing, and she didn’t want to risk being caught in a lie. Bahral was the one who caught her eye, and he mouthed “yesterday” at her with a reassuring smile.

She relaxed slightly. At least Bahral, Eju and Katali’s excursion yesterday had served some purpose.

“Listen. It doesn’t matter if you believe me, because I didn’t do it, and the person who did controls entry into the city.”

“So you think Captain Rinari is the one making threats?” 

“No, I know it is. Go on, try and get back into the city. See how well it goes for you.” It was issued as a challenge, one Calto already knew the outcome of.

“Eju-” Ora began.

“On it,” they replied, taking to the air and heading back in the direction of the gates.

Calto watched them until they disappeared into the trees.

“I suppose this means you’ll be staying a while.”

“Until we know whether or not you’re telling the truth,” Ilei said primly, sitting down on the porch with more drama than was probably necessary. 

“I told you, I couldn’t care less what happens to Queen Masal.”

Ilei seemed ready to correct him, but Ora held out a hand to stop her. 

“Queen Masal?”

“King Adaron’s daughter?” Calto said slowly, like he was repeating something obvious. “Next in line for the throne after him?” 

“She isn’t queen,” Ora said.

Calto made a frustrated sound. “She was the only one who survived the plague-” he stopped short, and realization dawned on his face. “No. Not Maieri.”

Ora nodded.

Calto’s expression shifted, from shock to pure rage. He disappeared back inside the house, emerging a moment later in the process of strapping a giant broadsword to his back. “I swear to every god there is that if that power-mad leech so much as lays a hand on her, I’ll kill her myself.” 

“Um, what?” Bahral said, stepping in front of Katali and shooting Ora a concerned look. She shrugged helplessly.

“Get up, all of you. I’m getting you back into the city.”

“This isn’t answering any of our questions,” Ilei pointed out, though she stood anyway, one hand on her own sword. 

“I’ll explain while we go, we don’t have time to waste.” Calto strode off with purpose, forcing everyone to hurry after him or risk being left behind.

Despite his promises of an explanation, Calto didn’t speak until Eju came flying back towards them, a look of grim resignation on their face.

“We’ve been banned, apparently. They won’t let us back in.”

Calto raised his eyebrows at them, an “I told you so” as clear as if he’d said it aloud.

“Are you going to tell us what’s going on now?” Bahral demanded.

“I was the last Captain of the Guard. The one before Rinari.” Calto didn’t stop walking as he spoke. “I was friends with Prince Veryn—Nakimi guard him—Maieri’s father. I’d been trying for years to convince him to ease Tuldor away from a monarchy, and he was willing, even if the rest of his family was more reluctant. None of that ended up mattering, of course. Ten years ago, a plague wiped out more than half of the royal family, including Veryn. Adaron, Masal and Maieri were the only ones who survived.” Though he’d sounded wistful during his initial description, his tone then turned harsh.

“Rinari blamed me. Said I’d caused it somehow, to cover up their assassinations and force the city to adopt my “radical ideals”. I was exiled, and she took up the Captaincy.”

“So she got what she wanted,” Ilei said. “But why threaten Maieri? She’s already Captain.”

“That’s the thing,” Calto said darkly. “Tuldorian law states that if there are no remaining members of the royal family, the Captain of the Guard takes over rule of the city.”

“She wants to rule,” Ora murmured, “and Maieri’s the only thing left in her way.”

Calto nodded. “She’s the perfect target. Her mother wasn’t noble, so the more old-fashioned citizens probably don’t consider her rule legitimate to begin with, and she grew up with Rinari as Captain. She won’t suspect her, and if Rinari kills her-”

“Rinari will be the one investigating her assassination,” Eju finished. “ _Nak_. That’s brilliant.”

Ilei kicked them in the leg. 

“Ow!”

“Don’t call murderers ''brilliant''.”

“I can appreciate a well thought out plan without approving of it!”

“Quiet, both of you,” Calto hissed, and the bickering halted.

They’d reached the gates again, though not the entrance they’d come through. It wasn’t an entrance at all, actually, but a seemingly impenetrable section of the fence, no break of gap to sneak through in sight.

“You,” Calto said, pointing at Ora. “You’re a witch?”

Ora nodded.

“Do you know how to cast a conceal rune?”

It was one of the first runes she’d learned, since it was simple to cast and easy to tell if it had worked. 

“Of course.”

“Around us, if you would.”

Ora wasn’t exactly overjoyed about being ordered around by a near stranger, but did as she was asked, whispering a “datahr” and watching the air around the group gain a shimmering quality that meant the rune had worked. Anyone who looked at this area now wouldn’t see anything suspicious, or even notice they were there.

Calto drew twin “khana” runes on two of the fence’s bars and activated them, standing back as they disintegrated, leaving a roughly person-sized gap in their wake.

“How long can you maintain the rune?” he asked, waving them through the hole and into the space behind what seemed to be a tavern. 

“An hour, maybe? But I’ll be drained if I keep it up that long.”

“That’s more than enough.” He turned to address the rest of the group. “Stick together, and don’t draw attention to yourselves. If the guard catches you in here again…” He didn’t finish the thought. He didn’t need to.

“You so realize that _someone_ is going to be magically sensitive enough to notice us before we get to Rinari, right?” Eju asked.

“When that happens, we’ll leave someone behind to deal with them,” Calto said without looking at them, gesturing for the group to stay back when a harried-looking man carrying an armload of groceries walked past them.

“Who?”

“You, if you don’t stop poking holes in my plan.”

“What _plan_?” Eju demanded. “There’s no plan, just you telling us what to do as we recklessly charge into the most heavily guarded area in Tuldor!”

Calto turned around in a flash, picking Eju up by their shirt collar and slamming them into a wall.

“When Veryn died, he told me to protect Maieri. Now her life is in danger, and if I don’t help her, I will have failed her and my best friend, and turned my city over to a tyrant. I know this is stupid, and I know this is reckless, but I don’t have another choice!”

Calto’s voice echoed through the alley, the weight of his words hitting each of them like a slap.

“In there!”

The spell was broken by a shout from the street, and the sound of running feet as two guards entered their alley.

Ilei and Bahral reacted first, drawing their weapons and charging at the guards. 

“Go on, we’ve got this!” Bahral yelled, and Ora grabbed a still-frozen Katali by the wrist to drag her away from the fight, closely preceded by Calto and Eju, who seemed to have set aside their differences in favor of surviving the next few minutes. 

Calto clearly knew the city well, and he led them through the winding back alleys with ease and at a speed Ora could barely keep up with. He came to an abrupt stop after maybe five minutes, nearly sending Ora (and Katali, who Ora was still hanging onto) crashing into his back.

The palace was across the street from them, looking far more foreboding than it had that morning. Ora could see two guards in front of the door, and four more patrolling on the allures, and she was certain there were more. 

“Loud one,” he whispered harshly, surveying the guards with the critical eye of an experienced fighter.

“Ora literally said my name ten minutes ago,” Eju said petulantly. Calto ignored them.

“Can you distract the guards?”

Eju snorted. “Of course.” 

They drew two knives, neither of which Ora recognized, and strolled casually out onto the street.

The guards tensed and pointed their weapons at Eju, who dropped the knives and raised their hands in surrender. 

“Hey, hey, no need for that. I’m a friend of Katoz’s. Is he on duty today?”

The guards looked at each other. One of them shrugged and the other said hesitantly:

“He’s on leave for the week. Visiting family.”

Eju gave an exaggerated groan. “Well, that’s just perfect timing, isn’t it? Just my luck, really. I haven’t seen him in years, you know, and I was in town from Kalassee and thought I’d drop in, y’know, surprise him, and he’s out of town.” Eju slowly approached the guards, who’d relaxed considerably. “I’m so sorry for bothering you, but the last time I’d seen him he said he was working here-”

“Wait,” said one of the guards, narrowing her eyes at Eju. “Katoz has only been working here two months.”

“Really? Well, that’s unfortunate.” 

Eju’s wings were out in a second, and they swung themselves onto the guard’s back, a new knife pressed to her throat. 

“Now, the rest of you stand down and let my friends through. I quite like this knife, and it would be _such_ a shame to get blood on it.” They smiled sardonically at the other guard, who dropped his weapon and nearly tripped over his own feet in his hurry to get the doors open.

Calto was the first one out of the alley, leading Ora and Katali across the street and through the doors without so much as a second glance at Eju. Ora, for her part, shot them a highly disapproving look, which they only shrugged at. 

Once they were inside the palace, Katali leaned in and asked in a concerned whisper:

“Eju wouldn’t really hurt her, would they?”

“Of course not,” Ora assured her, though she wasn’t really sure. Eju had come a long way, but she wasn’t certain they’d fully grasped the concept of mortality yet.

Before she had time to worry herself further, they reached their apparent destination, a section of the palace Ora hadn’t seen during their brief visit. 

“Maieri’s rooms are near here, if I remember correctly,” Calto said, studying the doors lining the walls as if trying to remember which one it was. 

He’d just reached out to open the closest one when someone turned the corner and gasped loudly.

“ _You_. How did you get in here?!”

It was Captain Rinari.

“Go,” Calto growled at Ora and Katali. “Find Maieri. Warn her.”

Ora nodded and took hold of Katali’s wrist again, pulling her down the hall to the further doors. 

“You’re a terrible Captain, that’s how. Leaving a section of the gate unguarded, Rinari? Amateur mistake.”

Rinari’s response, whatever it was, went unheard by the two girls as Ora finally chose a door and ducked inside. 

The room was lavish, far more cluttered than the throne room and covered wall to wall in rich, beautiful tapestries. It was also, as far as Ora could tell, empty.

“We could split up,” Katali suggested. “We can cover more ground like that.”

Ora shook her head. “If Calto loses, I don’t want Rinari to find you alone. There probably isn’t much for you to fight with here, and she’ll have no qualms about killing you.”

Katali bit her lip, but didn’t say anything else. 

“Come on.”

They hurried through the next door, finding a similar room, equally empty.

After the third attempt, Ora was starting to lose hope, but as she turned to leave, Katali tugged sharply on the sleeve of her dress. 

“I think I hear something.” 

Ora listened, but the clearest sounds she could gear was he clang of metal against metal from the duel down the hall. Then, so quiet she almost thought she imagined it: a sob.

She exchanged a look with Katali, and jogged to the door at the far end of the room, casting a quick khana on the lock when it didn’t open the first time.

Queen Maieri was sitting on the floor, crying quietly into her hands. There was a small table beside her with a tray on it, containing a surprisingly modest dinner, and a portrait on the wall above her. There were nine people in it, one of whom seemed to be a young Maieri, seated at the center between a man and woman Ora assumed were her parents. This must have been the Tuldorian royal family, back when it was whole. 

Ora waited a moment to see if the Queen would notice them on her own. When she didn’t, Ora cleared her throat gently, and Maieri’s head snapped up. 

She got to her feet quickly, glaring the pair down with terrifying effectiveness. 

“What are you doing in here? Gu-”

“We’re here to stop Captain Rinari from killing you,” Katali blurted.

The shock of the declaration kept the Queen quiet long enough for Katali to continue. 

“She told us Calto Jaheem was the person threatening you and we went to go investigate but it turns out it was her the whole time and now he’s helping us stop her before she can hurt you,” she said, all in one breath. 

Maieri looked distinctly unimpressed. “And do you have proof to back up any of these accusations?”

“She locked us out if the city as soon as we left,” Ora said. “I know that doesn’t prove she was trying to kill you, but it is a bit suspicious-”

“No,” Maieri cut in coldly. “It was proof of good judgement. You explicitly went against my wishes not to look into the threats, then broke into my city, into my palace, and into my _room_ , bringing a known traitor in with you. She was trying to prevent exactly that from happening, and I, for one, fully support that decision!” Maieri emphasized her last words with a firm strike to the small table, sending water sloshing out of the cup and onto the stone floor, where it sizzled ominously and sent up a curl of sweet smelling smoke.

Maieri snatched her hand away from it, eyes wide. 

“Who brought you that tray?” Ora asked urgently. She recognized that smell, any healer worth their salt did. “That was losary. It’s extremely toxic.”

“Rinari,” Maieri replied, sinking back to the floor. “She knew I was having a bad day, and I always eat alone on bad days.” She looked up a them, an expression of pure betrayal on her face. “She, she really-”

“Yes, she really did,” Rinari drawled from the door. She looked tired, and there was an impressive gash on her face, but there was no sign of Calto.

Ora whipped around, stepping protectively in front of Maieri and Katali, arms raised.

Rinari seemed unconcerned by this. “It was all going so _well_ , too. No one I sent out on that fool’s errand to Jaheem ever got anywhere, and everything was finally in position.” She stood up straighter and rolled her shoulders, twirling her sword lazily. “As annoying as this has been, though, you haven’t really done much to stop me.” She grinned. “Such a shame, that those assassins managed to get past the guards. I was too late to stop them from getting to the Queen, but they won’t be hurting anyone else, I made sure of it.” The twirling of her sword abruptly turned less lazy, and Ora barely had time to call out a “sahe!” before it was being swung at her. 

“Oh, you’re a witch,” Rinari said, wrinkling her nose. “That’s going to make this so much more irritating.” 

“Taina, stop this!” Maieri exclaimed, having risen from the floor while Rinari went on her tirade. She pushed her way in front of Ora, hands raised in surrender. “They’ve done nothing to you. If you want the kingdom, I’ll hand it over, but let them leave.”

Rinari paused, considering. “You know, I would, but I’ve been waiting to kill you for nearly ten years now, and I don’t plan on developing a sense of mercy now.” She raised her sword, and Ora prepared to cast a shield over the Queen, when Rinari suddenly collapsed, unconscious.

Calto’s broadsword clattered to the ground after her, released from his grip after he’d hit her in the head with its hilt. He was leaning heavily on the doorframe, clutching his side. He spat on the ground beside her.

“Uncle Calto?” Maieri said, voice trembling.

“Hello, Maieri. I’ve missed you.” He tried for a smile, but it came out more like a grimace. 

That kicked Ora out of her shock, and she rushed over, laying her hands on his side and muttering an “aulo”. Calto straightened up with a wince once the rune had finished working, and smiled properly at Maieri.

She hesitated for half a second before running forward and hugging him tightly. Calto froze for a moment, shocked, before wrapping his own arms around her and pressing a kiss to the top of her head, carefully avoiding her antlers.

“I think you need to do a better job appointing your Captains.” 

Maieri pulled back and punched him in the shoulder. “I was seven!”

“I know. But if you’re looking for a new one…”

She sighed. “I think I need an explanation before that.” She turned to Ora and Katali. “Thank you for all your help. If you ever find yourselves in need of it, Tuldor is at your disposal.”

Ora bowed. “We appreciate it.” And would probably taking her up on the offer, if they ever managed to track down Ixaya.

“However, I would suggest you leave as soon as you can. I fear Tuldor may be a bit unstable for the next little while.”

“That,” Calto said, patting Maieri heartily on the shoulder, “is an understatement.”


	6. Home, Again

“Do you actually know anyone named Katoz?” Ora asked once she and Katali had rejoined Eju. They were retracing their steps in hopes of finding Bahral and Ilei, who, with any luck, hadn’t gotten far.

“In general, yes. That works as a palace guard, no. But statistically there was going to be _someone_ with that name working there. It’s insanely common.”

Ora raised her eyebrows at them. “Seems unfair to be hard on Calto for not planning ahead when that was the best you could come up with.”

“It worked, didn’t it?”

Ora couldn’t argue with that, so she let it go, resolving to get Ilei and Bahral to mock them for it later. She doubted they would have any objections. 

Speaking of the two knights, they should definitely have found them by now. Ora was certain this was the alley where they’d first been attacked, and judging by the overturned crates and what Ora suspected was a bloodstain on the wall, a fight had definitely taken place here.

“Ilei?” Ora called hesitantly. “Bahral?”

“Up here!” came the reply. Ora looked around for the source, eventually spotting a waving Bahral on the roof of one of the buildings.

“Did you do this to yourself?” Ora called up to him, squinting and shielding her eyes against the sun. 

“Yup.”

Ora waited for Bahral to elaborate. He didn’t.

“Why?” she prompted

“We needed to hide from the rest of the guard, and it seemed like a good idea at the time.”

“How did you even get up there?”

“Uh,” Bahral laughed awkwardly, “I don’t really remember? There was a lot going on.”

Ora sighed deeply. “Do you at least know how to get down?”

“Not really. And Ilei’s kinda…” he trailed off and glanced over at something Ora couldn’t see, presumably Ilei, “not dealing too well with this.”

Ora pinched the bridge of her nose and turned to Eju.

“No,” they said, before she’d even opened her mouth. “Bahral’s three times my weight. It’d be the same as him jumping down.”

“And I’m pretty much out of magic, so if I try and get them down I’ll probably just end up stuck as well.”

“We could see if there’s anyone in the building?” Katali suggested hesitantly.

Ora glanced at Eju, who simply shrugged. 

“Worth a shot.”

After a bit of searching, Ora found the front entrance and knocked. 

The door didn’t open, but a small flap midway up the door did, revealing a pair of sharp black eyes surrounded by wrinkles.

“Are you the ruffians who were making all that racket earlier?” 

Ora winced. This wasn’t going to be easy.

“No, but they are stuck on top of your house, and we were wondering if you had a ladder, or maybe a way to access the roof-”

The person attached to the pair of eyes made a loud harrumphing noise and slammed the flap shut. Ora was considering knocking again because really, that had been very rude, but she was distracted by the muffled noises of something heavy being moved around inside, followed by loud footsteps and a creaking noise. There were some more footsteps, and the voice of the person who’d answered the door, though Ora couldn’t make out the words. She heard Bahral answer, then Ilei, then the door swung open and they were shoved unceremoniously outside, looking a bit shell-shocked.

Eju poked at the door flap leaned forward a bit to take a peek inside, and nearly got their fingers snapped off when the flap was abruptly slammed shut from the other side. They stuck their tongue out at it and stepped away, frowning at the knights.

“What could it possibly have done to you? You’re knights, for gods’ sakes.”

“Have you ever been called a disappointment by an old woman who comes up to your knees?” Ilei asked, still looking a little green around the gills.

“No.”

“Then you do not know our pain,” Bahral stated firmly.

“Should we… get going?” Katali asked, eyes darting uneasily from person to person.

Ilei nodded vigorously. “Please.” 

***

It took the knights a little while to recover, but by the time they’d left Tuldor, they were back to themselves.

The map Epari had drawn of the route to the camp was surprisingly detailed and comprehensible, if a bit colorfully worded.

“What does that mean?” Katali asked, pointing at one of the more obscure curses Epari had used to describe a bridge over a ravine.

“Oh,” Eju started, “it’s when-”

They were cut off by Bahral tackling them into a bush.

“We’ll explain when you’re older,” Ilei said, patting Katali on the shoulder.

“I already know a bunch of swear words!” Katali protested. 

“And in our unending quest to be better influences than your old group, we’re not teaching you more,” Ora said primly, folding up the map and tucking it into her belt.

Bahral was back on his feet, as was Eju, who looked appropriately sullen. 

“Censorship is the first sign of tyranny.”

Bahral rolled his eyes at them. “You can tell her when she’s old enough.”

Eju was pacified by this, and the group set off.

***

The third day of travelling dawned overcast and gloomy, and oppressive cloud cover looming over the immediate area. 

“That doesn’t look promising,” Eju said, peering critically at the sky. 

Ora was giving it an equally dubious look, but seemed to be trying for optimism. 

“We might outpace it, if we’re lucky.”

Eju snorted. “When are we ever?”

They had a point, but Katali didn’t dare agree with them out loud. She and Ora were on better terms after working together in Tuldor, but she didn’t want to risk those terms on a snarky comment.

“We’ll never know if we don’t try, right?” Bahral said, slapping Eju hard on the shoulder. “Let’s go.”

They made better progress that day, making it over the ravine bridge (which, in Katali’s opinion, deserved every forbidden curse word it had been given and more) and beyond before the sky gave an ominous rumble and the torrent began.

The group took refuge under a tree, which didn’t do much to shelter them from the downpour. 

Eju whistled sharply, eyeing the sky again. “Fusowé’s _pissed_ today!”

Ora was fruitlessly trying to wring out her soaked dress, with somewhat embarrassed help from Ilei. 

“So I guess this is a good time to mention that our tent only fits two people,” Bahral said awkwardly.

“Just do whatever magic you did on your bag on the tent,” Ora suggested. She’d given up on her dress and had huddled into Ilei, probably trying to leech up what little warmth she had to spare.

Katali was half tempted to join her. It was summer, she was certain it shouldn’t be this cold. 

“I can’t. It has to be woven in when it’s made, and my sister’s the one who made the bag anyway.”

Ora huffed, annoyed, and Ilei rubbed her arm soothingly. 

“How far is it to the next village?”

Bahral pulled out the map, which had been safely stowed in the (waterproof) bag, and handed it to Ilei.

She opened it and tilted it toward Ora, who inspected it for a second before answering.

“Probably about an hour, if we go quickly.”

“Great,” Eju said, setting off immediately in the direction they’d been going before the storm hit.

Everyone hurried after them, anxious to get somewhere dry as soon as possible.

Katali wouldn’t have minded the rain so much if it was warm, but it was decidedly not. She was freezing, even with her cloak and all her layers, and her teeth were chattering so hard she was certain she was going to break them.

She was pretty sure it was slowing her down, too, since everyone seemed to be moving much faster than usual. 

Bahral was the first to notice, after maybe half and hour. He’d turned to check on her, and, upon noticing how far behind she’d fallen, sent her a concerned frown. 

“You good, kid?”

Katali nodded, which probably would have been more convincing if she hadn’t been shivering violently. 

Bahral looped back towards her and grabbed one of her hands to gauge her temperature. He yanked his hand back almost as soon as he touched her, hissing sympathetically.

“Nine hells, you’re freezing! Ora!”

Katali tried to keep him from calling her over, but he ignored her.

Ora came over and took stock of the situation remarkably quickly, grabbing both of Katali’s hands and muttering a lehir under her breath before Bahral even had a chance to explain why he’d called her.

Warmth shot up Katali’s arms and pooled through her whole body, and she nearly slumped over in relief.

“You were practically hypothermic,” Ora said, studying Katali critically. “Tell us if something’s bothering you sooner next time, that could’ve been dangerous.”

“I will,” Katali replied, embarrassed. She’d been hoping to make it to the village without anyone noticing.

Ora nodded approvingly. “You should stick near Bahral and Ilei for now, they’re warmest, but we’ll be at the village soon.”

Katali was about to agree and settle into step next to Bahral when she noticed a particularly tall pine tree, looking out of place among the other, leafier trees of the area. There was an “x” carved into its bark.

***

_Katali was ten years old, collecting pine cones in her dress even though she knew her mother didn’t like her getting sap on it. But there were so many nice ones around this tree, and she’d run out of arm space, so she would understand. Probably._

_As Katali thought that, something caught her attention on the ground, a spot of white among the brown pine needles. She crouched down to get a better look at it, and saw that it was a small pile of bones, though she couldn’t tell what it had been before. Having now found something much more interesting than pinecones, she let her collection fall from her dress and set about clearing away the dirt and needles from around the bones, to see if she could figure out what animal had left them there. She thought, absently, that it would be an easier task if they were in the right shape, instead of just a pile._

_As if they’d sensed her thoughts, the bones began to glow and knit themselves back together, until Katali could tell that what she’d found had once been a bird. Once the initial shock wore off, she was delighted; she’d seen her mother use magic around the house, and this, clearly, was the same thing. Katali knew her mother was worried that she didn’t have magic, since every time she and her father had tried to teach her it hadn’t worked, but her fears had obviously been unfounded._

_“Come on,” she told the bird skeleton, and it hopped into her outstretched hand._

_Katali got to her feet, and, carefully cradling the bird so it didn’t get jostled too badly, ran back to her house as fast as she could._

_When she arrived in the backyard, her mother was already there, hanging up the washing and humming to herself._

_“Mama look! I did magic!” Katali called, a bit out of breath from her run, holding out the bird for her to see._

_Her mother turned around, a smile already forming on her face. “Oh, Katali, that’s wonder-” she noticed the bird, and her smile vanished. She rushed forward and grabbed Katali by the wrist, wrenching her hand forward so she could get a closer look at the bird._

_“Did you do this?” she asked, voice suddenly cold._

_Katali nodded, not sure why it had made her mother so angry, but aware enough to know that lying was a bad idea._

_Her mother swatted the bird out of Katali’s grasp and to the ground, then stomped on it. The bones crunched horribly under her foot, and Katali let out a strangled cry, confused and hurt._

_“The dead are supposed to stay_ dead _,” her mother hissed harshly, pulling Katali roughly into the house. She crouched down in front of Katali, her grip on her wrist so strong it hurt._

 _“I_ never _want you to do that again, understand?”_

_Ignoring the tears streaming down her face, Katali nodded, even though she still didn’t understand what she’d done wrong._

***

Katali shook her head, blinking away the memory. There was no way. She’d have remembered things like the ravine bridge. There was no way she’d forget something like that.

 _You never went that way_ , her brain reminded her, _Kalassee’s in the opposite direction_. 

It was a coincidence. It had to be. There were plenty of pine trees, and there was definitely more than one marked like that. Sakaeli was a big place.

Katali managed to keep herself convinced of that until she saw the cairn.

It was a little ways away from the main path, and Katali might not have noticed it at all if Eju hadn’t paused to look at it. The cairn was nestled between a large boulder and a thornbush, and there was a large, flat stone at its base with an inscription carved into it. 

“Nakimi guard our daughter, for we no longer can,” they read, and a spike of pure terror shot up Katali’s spine.

***

_Katali really should stop coming here. It was only a matter of time before she got caught, and she knew her mother would be furious when it happened._

_She wasn’t even doing anything wrong, really. She even had an excuse (for herself, as much as for anyone who might ask)._

_“Lannie was only a year older than me, I just can’t imagine her being dead.”_

That’s _why she kept coming back._ That’s _where the pull in her gut telling her that she_ needed to be here was coming from. 

_It was nice out here, if nothing else. Peaceful, and pretty._

_“People are going to think you’re weird if you spend all your time here, you know.”_

_Katali jumped at the sound of the voice, and looked up._

_It was Lannie._

_She looked the same as she had when she was alive, dark fluffy hair and bicolored skin. The only difference was the deep red gash on her temple. She’d fallen in the river, hit her head on a rock._

_Lannie’s eyes widened when she saw Katali looking at her, and she let out a disbelieving laugh._

_“You can hear me!”_

_Katali looked away, panic rising in her chest. Lannie couldn’t know. If Lannie knew, Katali would have used her powers, and she wasn’t allowed to do that._

_“Stop ignoring me, I know you can!” Lannie sounded petulant now, and even though Katali kept her eyes firmly on the ground in front of her, she still saw Lannie’s bare feet as she walked in front of her. She was quiet for a moment before speaking again._

_“Look, if this is about me saying you were weird, I didn’t mean that. I just didn’t think you could hear me, and I’m in kind of a bad mood, what with being_ dead _and all.”_

_Katali flinched, squeezed her eyes shut, hunched her shoulders, and waited for Lannie to go away._

_Silence. For so long that Katali thought it was safe again._

_“Please,” Lannie said, more quietly this time. “I tried to tell them at the funeral but no one could hear me and I-” she cut off with a shuddery breath, like she was trying not to cry. “I can’t leave because I didn’t fall in, Edric pushed me, and no one knows and I_ can’t leave _!” Her voice pitched up at the end. She sounded hurt, and confused. Broken._

_She got to her feet and left, because she was still a coward, and she couldn’t talk to Lannie. She could listen, but talking was too much._

_When she arrived home, no one else was there. She hadn’t expected her father to be, he was in a nearby village on business, but her mother must be doing an errand. That would make this easier, at least._

_Katali packed a bag, with everything she could think to bring, and walked out the door. The sun was setting._

_She knocked on the door to Lannie’s parents’ house. Her mother opened the door. Her eyes were red, and she looked like she hadn’t slept in days, but she forced on a wobbly smile._

_“How can I help you?”_

_Katali forced the words out before she could convince herself not to. “Edric pushed her. I’m sorry.”_

_Then she turned on her heel and left, ignoring Lannie’s mother’s yelling behind her._

_Word travelled fast, and once the news had reached her mother, Katali didn’t doubt that she wouldn’t be allowed back home. Those were the terms; Katali used her powers, Katali wasn’t her daughter anymore._

_Katali pulled her father’s too-big winter cloak tighter around her shoulders and kept walking._

_Hopefully, she’d find somewhere where they’d let her use them._

***

“We can’t go to the village,” she said, bordering on desperate.

“Why not?” Ilei asked, tilting her head and frowning. Concerned, not angry.

But Katali couldn’t answer, could only shake her head and say “We can’t,” over and over again.

Ora came over, eventually, and held her hands up, hovering near Katali’s shoulders but not touching them.

“Deep breaths, with me.”

Katali did as she was told, until it no longer felt like she was going to collapse in on herself.

“The village near here is where I was born,” she said finally. “I can’t go back there. They know about me.”

 

“If we keep you disguised-” Ora tried, her tone low and calm.

Katali shook her head sharply. “No. My mother still lives here, she can sense my magic, she’ll know I came back, she’ll kill me.”

The declaration seemed to resonate with Ora, and she let it go, taking a step back and lowering her hands.

“Alright. Alright. We’ll find somewhere else.”

She walked back to the front of the group and took out the map. While she and Eju did some tracking spells to adjust it, Ilei came over and, after a moment’s hesitation where she silently looked at Katali for permission, pulled her into a tight hug. 

Katali stiffened up initially, unsure how to respond. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d been hugged. She didn’t know the protocol. 

Ilei didn’t seem to mind, and held onto her until Katali had relaxed, and kept holding on when she started crying. She didn’t let go until Katali pulled away and forced a smile.

“I’m okay now.”

“No you aren’t,” Ilei said firmly, rubbing her arms sympathetically. “But you don’t have to be. Not yet.”

Katali nearly started crying again, but Ora cleared her throat and said that they were ready to get going again, so she didn’t.

“Come on,” Ilei said with a sad smile, bumping her shoulder gently into Katali’s. “Lets see how much mud we can get on Eju’s tunic before they notice.”

Katali’s next smile was much less forced.


	7. Camp

“You’re sure you read it right?” Eju asked, surveying the tangle of trees ahead of them skeptically. 

“It should be here,” Ora insisted. “We hit all the landmarks, and this is where it stops.”

It had been two days since the near miss with Katali’s old village, and they’d finally reached the spot marked “camp” on their map, only to find an impenetrably dense forest in its place.

She glared at the trees for a moment before turning to Bahral.

“Is there a magical guard up? Like at the cave?”

Bahral shook his head. “There’s magic, but it’s different. It’s…” he gestured at the trees, like he was trying to force the words to come, “It’s like the _trees_ are hiding something, not magic.” 

“Yeah, that would be Aelyss,” came a voice from the foliage, and Zeth dropped out of one of the trees, unglamoured and beaming. “Hey guys!”

Ora was too dignified to say “I told you so” out loud, but she did give Eju a look that heavily suggested she would like to. 

“Hello. Good to see you again.”

“You guys too! I was starting to think you’d been eaten on the way here.” Zeth laid his hand on the trunk of the tree closest to him, and the branches bent in towards him, almost like they were listening.

“Hey Lyss! The group of heroes we told you about is here, can you let them in?”

A shudder passed through the trees, starting from Zeth’s and passing toward where the map said the camp would be. There was a pause. Then the trees shifted, leaning away from each other until a path was cleared through them.

“Thanks!”

Zeth removed his hand and pointed them through. “I’m on lookout duty so I can’t go with you, but just ask anyone you run into for Aelyss and they’ll show you to her.”

“Thank you,” Ora said, cautiously stepping into the path. She wasn’t sure how long it would hold, and she wasn’t keen on getting trapped. 

The rest of the group all gave their thanks and followed her through.

As soon as Ilei, who’d been bringing up the rear, left the tunnel, the trees returned to their positions, and the way out was lost in a tangle of branches and leaves.

They were in a large clearing now, with a path of worn-down grass leading to a makeshift tent village a little ways away. There was a field to their left, growing what looked like wheat, and there seemed to be more fields beyond that. The whole affair was surrounded by the protective snarl of trees.

By silent mutual agreement, they all continued toward the collection of tents, as it seemed the place most likely to contain people. 

They’d barely made it to the first tent when a small girl, maybe five or six, came sprinting past and ran straight into Bahral. 

He stumbled back a step and let out a sharp breath as some air was knocked out of him, but recovered quickly enough.

The girl was looking up at him, wide-eyed. Probably afraid she was going to be yelled at.

“Watch where you’re going next time, alright?” Bahral said with a grin. He crouched down a bit to ruffle her hair, just as a short, green-haired woman came running around the back of one of the tents.

“Elowyn! Were you bothering them?”

“Not at all,” Ora said quickly. “Honest mistake, could’ve happened to anyone.”

Elowyn smiled sheepishly at them, and glanced over her shoulder at the woman, who waved a dismissal. She took off in the same direction she’d been going, at around the same speed. Ora hoped the next person she ran into was as good natured about it as Bahral. 

“Sorry about that,” the woman said, walking over with an embarrassed smile on her face. “Her parents are both away and she doesn’t really listen to anyone but them.”

“Oh, it’s quite alright. She’s just having fun.” 

The woman’s smile turned sharp. “I’m glad you think so. Elowyn!”

Elowyn came running back, skidding to a halt in front of the woman. 

“Yes?”

“Good job.” She reached into her pouch and pulled out what seemed to be a candy wrapped in parchment paper, which Elowyn accepted gleefully. “Go see your mom, okay?”

Just like that, Elowyn was gone again, having taken off in the opposite direction.

There were three seconds of complete silence, eventually broken by Eju.

“What just happened there?” 

“As much as I love Zeth, he’s a bit too trusting to be a good judge of character, and Epari just hates everyone, so I like to give anyone they bring back a little test of my own. Just to be safe.” She stuck out her hand. “I’m Aelyss.”

Ora accepted it first, since she was closest. “Ora.”

The rest of the group passed in the same way, until Aelyss reached Bahral. He just sort of stared at her, until Ilei kicked him in the shin, and he jolted and shook Aelyss’ hand.

“Bahral. Bahral, I'm Bahral.”

Ora shot him a concerned look. He was usually much better with people than that.

“Okay,” Aelyss said slowly, though she looked more endeared than unsettled. “Nice to meet you all. I understand you’re looking for Ixaya?”

Ora nodded. “Zeth said the camp was mostly refugees, and she’s been responsible for quite a few.”

Aelyss sighed. “We are, but I’ve never heard her name mentioned. You can talk to people if you’d like, and there’s a scouting party out investigating a new disturbance that should be back tonight. You can stay and ask them when they get back, too.”

“Thank you.”

Aelyss smiled tiredly. “It’s no trouble. We’re overcrowded as it is, we don’t need anything causing extra problems. Besides-” she cut off abruptly and stretched up on her toes to look out at the fields, frowning. 

Ora followed her line of sight, and noticed a plume of smoke rising from one of the farther fields, which was worrying, but Aelyss looked more annoyed than afraid.

“I told him not to train without Zeth around,” she growled, starting off in the direction of the smoke. “I need to go take care of this, but feel free to ask around!” 

She started running a moment after, and Ora quickly lost sight of her amongst the tents. 

“Well, she seems nice,” Bahral said, apparently recovered from his earlier shock.

Ilei snorted loudly, and Bahral hit her in the arm and told her to shut up.

Ora wasn’t really sure what was happening there, but elected to ignore it for the time being.

“I think we can cover the most ground if we all go by ourselves,” she said. “We’re unlikely to meet anyone hostile, so we just need to talk to as many people as possible.”

She waited for everyone’s agreement before adding: “Try not to traumatize anyone.”

“We would _never_ ,” Eju drawled, stowing the knife they’d been twirling back in its sheath.

“Alright, nevermind. Someone take Eju.”

“I got it,” Ilei said, grabbing them by the back of the shirt and dragging them off, ignoring their protests.

“Katali, Bahral, you can handle yourselves?”

Maybe she should’ve been more worried about sending Katali off on her own, but she’d shown no signs of a return to her more villainous habits, and if there was a time to see if she’d really changed, it was now. They were in an enclosed area, Ora knew for a fact that at least a few of the people here were combat trained, and it was small enough that any one of them could reach her if she decided to cause trouble. 

They both nodded, and she smiled tightly. 

“Alright then. Good luck.”

***

Katali was a liar.

She could not handle herself. She’d seen three people so far, and every one of them had vanished before she’d managed to work up the courage to try talking to them.

In her defense, she’d never had to do this alone before.

With Ixaya and Saresh, Ixaya had done most of the work, and Katali had just had to stand in the background, look menacing, and try not to cry or throw up. And in Tuldor she’d been with Eju and Bahral, who were both more than happy to do all the talking. 

Katali had just spotted a fourth person in the distance, and was starting to mentally rehearse what she was going to say by the time their paths crossed, when she heard a gasp from beside her.

She looked over, and she her heart jumped into her throat. 

It was the boy, the little faun from the village by the fortress.

“It’s you,” he said, staring at her, wide-eyed, like he still couldn’t quite believe it.

“Yeah,” Katali said lamely. “I… is your brother…”

“He’s back at our tent. He’s okay,” the boy answered. His shoulders were squared, and he’d pulled himself up to his full height. He was shifting a bit in place, clearly nervous, but he was staring Katali down determinedly. 

“Good. Good, I’m glad.” She was, really. The two boys had sort of slipped to the back of her mind what with everything that had happened, but knowing they were safe made her feel just a bit lighter. She’d done something right.

The boy worried his lip for a second, the said:

“Did anyone else make it?”

Katali wanted to lie and say that everyone had made it out. 

No, that wasn’t it. She wanted to say that everyone made it out, and for that to be the truth.

“It was just you two,” she said softly, “I’m sorry.” 

“Sorry” didn’t feel anywhere near good enough, but it was all she had.

The boy nodded and looked away, but she caught the tears shining in his eyes anyway.

“I saw your mother in the village,” she said, when the silence grew too oppressive for her. “She was looking for you. I told her you got away.”

The boy’s head snapped up. 

“You can talk to ghosts?”

Katali nodded, confused by the sudden shift in tone but so grateful for it that she didn’t dare question it.

“And those skeletons at the village, you were controlling them?” the boy was getting animated now, bouncing in place and talking with his hands.

Katali nodded again.

The boy’s face split into a grin. “You’re a necromancer! This is perfect, you could- you can bring them back!”

He looked so happy, so excited to have found an answer.

Katali squeezed her eyes shut so she wouldn’t have to see when that was taken away.

“I can’t,” she whispered. “My powers don’t work like that. I can only control dead bodies, I can’t bring people back to life.”

“Oh.” The boy’s voice was quiet, defeated. Shutting her eyes couldn’t erase that.

“I can call your mom down if you want. To visit,” she offered. “And anyone else you want to see. I wish I could do more than that but I… I can’t.”

“Lian will want to,” he said, in the same broken tone. “I don’t know if I do.”

“I’m staying until at least tonight,” she said. “If you come find me, I’ll do it.”

The boy nodded, but didn’t say anything further.

Katali backed away from him and left without saying goodbye. She didn’t want to disappoint Ora, but she was too drained to try talking to anyone else, so she walked out of the village and to the edge of the tree barrier. She sat down on the ground, pulled up the hood of her cloak, tucked her knees up to her chest, and cried until her tears stopped coming.

***

Something was shaking her shoulder.

“Come on, Cahkimi.”

Katali opened her eyes and blinked blearily at Eju. They were the one shaking her. Why were they shaking her? That was weird, even for them-

Panic shot through her as she fully processed what had happened.

“Please don’t tell Ora!” she blurted, and Ilei, who was standing a little ways away, laughed.

“We won’t, but if you were that tired you should’ve said something.”

She hadn’t been tired, not when they’d started out, but after that encounter with the faun…

She couldn’t explain that. Not yet.

“I didn’t think I was,” she said, which was at least partially true.

“The fact that the human race has made it this long is mind-blowing,” Eju said, tugging on Katali’s arm until she got the message and stood up. “How can you “not realize” you’re tired? Sleep is a basic need!”

“Bahral once got stabbed in the stomach and didn’t notice,” Ilei interjected. “So it’s humans and elves.”

“Fine. The fact that _any mortal species_ has made it this long is mind-blowing.”

Katali felt herself relax as the back-and-forth continued, and by the time they’d returned to their starting point, she was pretty much back to normal. 

Ora and Bahral were both there already, talking quietly. Bahral waved when he noticed them, breaking into a grin.

“Any luck?”

“Nope,” Eju said with a sigh. “No one we talked to had even heard of her.”

“What about you, Katali?” Ora asked, and Katali fought down the part of her insisting that Ora somehow knew everything that had happened and was trying to trick her into revealing she was a liar.

“One person I talked to was… one of hers, but the attack was a while ago.” _Back when I was still with them._

Ora pursed her lips. “We didn’t find anything new either.”

“Are we going to wait for that scouting party, then?” Ilei asked.

Ora nodded. “Can’t hurt. And if we don’t find anything new we can always check in Skyesgard.”

“We should find Aelyss, then,” Bahral said. “Let her know we’re planning on sticking around.”

“That’s probably a good idea.” 

Eju, who’d still been holding on to Katali’s arm, released it and waved down a man passing by with a basket of wheat.

“Hey! Do you know where we might be able to find Aelyss?”

“Right in the center of everything, tent with the green flap,” he replied. “Can’t miss it unless you’re trying.”

Eju thanked him and turned to the rest of them. “Shall we?”

***

Ilei was never going to let this go. 

“It was the smart move, Ilei! We don’t know when the party is coming back!”

Ilei had made her way over to Bahral as soon as they’d started off to find Aelyss, and managed to get them to the back of the group, so she could make his life hell without bothering the others. 

“Of course,” she said, patting him condescendingly on the shoulder. “That’s obviously the only reason.”

It probably was, actually. Bahral was, if nothing else, straightforward. He wouldn’t have suggested finding Aelyss if he didn’t have a good reason, but that didn’t mean Ilei wasn’t going to make fun of him. He hadn’t even waited until her ribs healed before he started mocking her about Ora, so this was retribution a month in the making.

“It is!” he insisted, shoving her hand away and glaring at her. The effect was somewhat dampened by the fact that he was flushed bright red.

“You think she’s _pre-tty_!” Ilei sang, knocking her shoulder into his side and sending him stumbling.

“Shut up!” Bahral, having recovered his balance, aimed a kick at her legs, which she dodged easily, since he was much more worked up than she was.

Ilei hadn’t had this much fun since that girl from their village broke things off and she’d stopped being able to tease him about her.

Bahral made a sudden grab at her that Ilei wasn’t able to avoid, and she let out a surprised yell.

“What are you _doing_?” Ora snapped, having turned around to check on the commotion just in time to see Bahral get Ilei in a headlock.

They jumped apart and both deliberately avoided eye contact with her.

“Nothing,” they said in unison, a brief cease fire to avoid Ora’s wrath. 

Ora eyed them both suspiciously for a moment before sighing and turning away, muttering under her breath.

As soon as her attention turned elsewhere, Bahral swung an arm around Ilei’s shoulders and pulled her into a position very reminiscent of the earlier headlock.

“Look, there’s nothing wrong with having a crush-” 

“I do not have a crush!” Bahral hissed. “I’ve said five words to her!”

“Actually, you’ve said four, and three of them were your name.”

Bahral made a wordless noise of frustration, and Ilei nudged him gently with her elbow.

“I’ll leave it alone if it’s bothering you.”

“No, it’s fine, it’s just…” he huffed, which meant he was trying to figure out what to say. “Even if I did, you know, eventually, it’s not like it would matter. We have to leave, and she won’t be coming, so it’s kinda pointless, right?”

Well. That took a turn.

Ilei knew Bahral wanted a family, in the more traditional sense than their motley crew of assembled weirdos, but that had always seemed so distant. Something they’d get to when they were done adventuring and ready to settle down. But that wasn’t really realistic, was it? They’d already gotten a message a few months back about someone their age from their village getting married, and it definitely wasn’t going to be the last of its kind.

She elbowed him again. “We have time, Ral. Plenty. Don’t worry, okay?”

“Yeah, I know,” he said, elbowing her back. “It was easier without you and Ora being gross all the time.”

Ilei rolled her eyes. “We haven’t even kissed yet, and we’ve held hands like, twice. Get over yourself.”

He laughed, loudly, and Ilei knew they’d gotten through, and just in time. They’d arrived at Aelyss’ tent.

Ora was staring at it uncertainly. 

“What’s wrong?” Eju asked.

“There’s no way to knock,” Ora said, “and we can’t just walk in. That would be rude.”

“Gods above, it’s not that big a crisis, just come in.”

Ah, she knew that voice. 

Ora was still hesitating, so Ilei took matters into her own hands, walking past her and opening the tent flap.

Epari was sitting at a desk in the far corner, slouching and glaring at the door. Aelyss was in the middle of the tent next to a potted sapling with one hand on its trunk, listening intently. She shot Ilei a tight smile when she noticed her, then shifted her attention back to whatever was being said.

Ilei waved everyone else in, and they waited in awkward silence while Aelyss finished up. Ilei passed the time by shifting her weight from foot to foot and watching as Epari pulled a knife from his belt and started cleaning his nails with it.

Aelyss finally drew her hand away from the sapling and glanced over her shoulder at Epari.

“That was Zeth. His shift is done, go take over.”

Epari got to his feet and cracked his neck, making Ilei wince involuntarily. She’d been sleeping on the ground for five years and her back still didn’t make noises like that.

“You know, if you’re going to get pissy about me training without him, maybe you shouldn’t give us opposite shifts.”

Aelyss seemed entirely unaffected by the jab. “You were both extremely inefficient last time you guarded together, and unless you want me to give our guests a detailed retelling of that incident, I suggest you go to your shift.”

Epari made a very rude gesture at her, which Aelyss absorbed with an unimpressed eyebrow raise, and left.

Ilei had to hand it to Bahral, he had good taste. Aelyss would definitely be able to deal with his nonsense.

“Sorry about him. I suppose this little visit means you’re planning on staying?”

“If we could,” Ora said. “I know you said you were overcrowded, and we wouldn’t want to-”

Aelyss raised a hand to cut her off. “By “overcrowded”, I meant that we can’t take in another village. We can manage five.” She grinned. “Besides, you’re just in time for the harvest, and we could use a few more hands for that. I’ll take you to the guest housing.”

She nodded toward the door and the group filed out, with Aelyss bringing up the rear.

“The ones with the yellow flags are the temporaries,” she said, pointing at a cluster of tents a little ways away. 

“There’s a lot of them,” Ilei observed, and Aelyss nodded.

“Skyesgard doesn’t take refugees anymore, but other places do. We get a lot of people staying here for a bit before moving on to different cities.”

“Skyesgard doesn’t take refugees?” Bahral asked, frowning.

“Nope. They say it’s a security risk. The only place anywhere near as bad is Tuldor, and they at least let people in.” Aelyss said bitterly. 

“That’s ridiculous!” The idea that anyone could look at someone who’d lost their home, their livelihood, maybe even family, and not feel any sympathy whatsoever was impossible for Ilei to wrap her head around.

“See, that’s what I said, and I now have a lifetime ban.”

“Skyesgard certainly seems keen on banning people,” Ora said. 

“I don’t blame them for Zeth and Epari. If they’d pulled that kind of stunt here I would’ve kicked them out too,” Aelyss said. “But yes. We keep a tally.”

Bahral looked overjoyed by this. “What are you guys at?”

“63. Here you are.” Aelyss steered them into one of the yellow-flagged tents. It opened directly onto the ground, and Bahral had to stoop down to avoid hitting his head on the ceiling, but there was enough space for all of them to lie down semi-comfortably.

“I know it isn’t much, but what with having to host so many people…” Aelyss trailed off, sounding almost embarrassed. 

“Hey, we usually don’t even have a tent,” Bahral said. “This is luxurious.”

Aelyss smiled at him, and Ilei watched with barely concealed glee as his ears turned a vibrant red. 

“I’ll have Zeth come by and show you around in a bit, but I should really get going,” she said, backing out of the tent with a small wave. “I’ll see you when the party gets back.”

There was an appropriate chorus of goodbyes, and she was gone.

“So,” Ora said after a few moments of silence, “lunch?”


	8. Ikai

As promised, Zeth arrived about an hour after Aelyss left.

“I’ve never gotten to give the tour before!” he said excitedly.

His wings were fluttering a bit, and Ora kept having to lean away to avoid being hit with one.

“I mean, it’s not like there’s much to see, but still!” Zeth took a sudden turn, and gestured grandly at a collection of tents, all slightly larger than the one they were staying in.

“These are the permanent refugee residences. We’re planning on building proper houses in the spring, since it doesn’t seem like Skyesgard is changing their policy anytime soon.”

“Yeah, about that,” Bahral said. “I know Epari said you got kidnapped by slavers last time you were there, but how did that end with you getting banned from the city? It feels like the slavers should’ve gotten in trouble, not you.”

Zeth’s skin was too dark for a blush to show on his face, but he very pointedly avoided eye contact and hurried them along to the next thing, an actual building a little ways away. 

“It’s kind of a long story, and it’s more Epari’s than mine anyway, so if you really want to know, you’ll have to ask him, and hey, look at that, we’re at the forge!”

Zeth corralled them all inside, and took a deep breath, the first he’d taken since Bahral had spoken, as far as Ora could tell.

“We have another one in the battle camp, but this one’s for nails, cookware, harvest equipment, that sort of thing.”

There were tools, both complete and incomplete, on every surface available, but the forge itself was cold and abandoned. 

“Day off?” she asked.

Zeth shook his head. “No, actually. Our smith went with the party, since they grew up in the area they were investigating. You’ll probably meet them when they get back.”

The rest of the tour went much the same way. They saw Aelyss’ tent again, and the makeshift infirmary between the residential camp and the warrior’s camp.

Ora managed to come up with at least six improvements in the couple minutes they spent there, and decided to bring them up privately with Aelyss when she had the chance.

The warrior’s camp was definitely of most interest to Ilei and Bahral, who spent a good portion of their time fawning over the large cleared out area being used for training, and the impressive array of weapons in the second forge.

This one was split in half, with one side being taken up by weapons making material, and the other being dedicated to what seemed like an alchemical lab. Ora suggested they leave when Eju started eyeing the potions with a little too much interest. 

 

“Okay, last thing we’re seeing is the graveyard, then I’m supposed to take you to the fields to help out.”

Ora felt Katali tense beside her at the mention of a graveyard. Ora’s instincts got the better of her, and reached over to squeeze Katali’s arm reassuringly.

Katali jumped at the contact and Ora quickly pulled away. 

“I think we can skip the graveyard,” Ora said, and Zeth nodded in understanding.

“Fair enough. Fields it is!”

The mood remained strained for a while longer after that, but when they reached the fields, Katali seemed to have calmed down.

“Myo!” Zeth called when they reached the edge of one of the fields, and a woman with long dark hair and a kind face looked up and smiled at him.

“Fresh meat?” she asked jokingly, and he laughed.

“Yup! The travellers Ep and I met in Tuldor.” 

Myo picked her way through the tall plants to them and shook each of their hands in turn. 

“So, I don’t suppose any of you know what you’re doing?”

Ora, Katali and Eju all shook their heads, but Bahral and Ilei said that they did.

Myo smiled appreciatively. “Farm kids, then?”

“Yep! Our lands were right next to each other,” Ilei said, nodding at Bahral. “It’s been a few years, but I’m pretty sure we remember what to do.”

“Alright, guess I don’t have to worry about you two. Go find someone to relieve,” she said, gesturing out at the field. 

The knights headed out, leaving the rest of the group behind.

“Okay,” Myo said, surveying the remaining four. “I’ll take you,” she pointed at Katali and Eju, “and you,” she pointed at Ora, “can go with Zeth.”

No one had any objections, so they split up, each heading to a different part of the large field. 

“Zeth!”

Ora and Zeth both turned toward the source of the call, a man in his mid-fifties holding a scythe and waving at them.

“You taking over?” he asked. “My back’s not what it once was, and I’ve been out here a while.”

“We are,” Zeth said, taking the scythe and gracing the man with a grin. “Go rest, we’ve got another few days of this, at least.”

The man groaned dramatically and stretched. “Don’t remind me. Good luck!”

Zeth thanked him, and gestured for Ora to join him.

“We’ve got the easy job, technically. All we have to do is cut the stalks and put them on that sheet,” he said, indicating a roughly made piece of cloth on the ground, already covered in cut stalks.

He demonstrated how to use the scythe properly, then had Ora collect what he’d cut and give it a try herself.

She wasn’t particularly good at it, and it took her a while to amass a pile the same size as the one Zeth had made.

Ora looked over at him when she had, assuming they’d be trading, but he was lying on the ground with one of his wings draped over his face to shield it from the sun and the other spread out on the ground. The tip of it was nearly touching Ora.

She nudged it with her foot, and he sat up with a sigh, rolling his shoulders once before standing up. He gathered her stalks, then took the scythe and started slicing.

They went back and forth like that a few times, Ora steadily improving each time, though she never got much faster.

Halfway through one of her turns, she saw the leaves on the border trees suddenly shift to a vibrant orange. Puzzled, she nudged Zeth’s wing again (he was taking half-naps during her turns), hoping he’d be able to tell her what was going on.

“Already?” he said, sitting up and stretching. “I feel like that wasa lot faster than last time.”

“I’m not done,” she replied, “but the trees all went orange, and I was wondering what that meant.”

Zeth looked far more awake than he had a moment ago. 

“That means we have someone injured at the entrance,” he said, scrambling to his feet. “I have to go.”

“Wait!” Ora grabbed his arm before he could run off. “I’m a healer, take me with you.”

Zeth hesitated for a second, then relented. 

“Back up a bit.”

Ora obeyed, and having figured out what was about to happen, averted her eyes.

There was a tearing noise and a gust of warm, dry air. When she looked back, Zeth was in dragon form, pressed close to the ground so she could climb on more easily.

She swung herself onto his back and he took to the air, rising high above the camp and circling slowly, looking for the source of the problem.

Zeth apparently found it before Ora did, because he banked sharply towards the trees by the battle camp, plunging toward the ground so quickly that Ora half-feared she was going to fall off. 

He landed just outside the border and pressed himself to the ground again. Ora slid off, nearly tripping over her own feet as she hit the ground, and ran toward the small gathering of people by the trees.

She recognized Epari, leaning against the trunk of one of the trees, and Aelyss, speaking firmly to a tall woman Ora didn’t recognize, who was cradling something in her arms.

“-Epari take her. You’ll be of more use to Ikai if you tell us what happened.”

“I’ll be of more use if I’m there to tell whichever amateur’s treating her what happened!” the woman yelled, tightening her arms protectively around what she was holding, which, upon further reflection, was probably a some _one_.

“The Hells are you doing here?” Epari asked, addressing Ora.

Aelyss whipped around to face her. She must have been thoroughly distracted if she hadn’t even noticed a dragon landing nearby.

“I was with Zeth when the trees changed, he brought me. I’m a healer,” she explained quickly.

“Right. Nazja, help her get Ikai onto Zeth, then you can-”

“I’m going with them,” the tall woman, Nazja, said, brushing past Aelyss and making a beeline for Zeth.

Epari pushed off the tree, face screwed up like he was about to start yelling, but Aelyss shot him a warning look and he backed off.

“Tell her to meet up with us when Ikai’s stable,” Aelyss said.

Ora nodded and hurried back to Zeth, who was lying down with his legs spread out beside him, as flat on the ground as he could possibly be.

It looked absolutely ridiculous, but the tense energy emanating from Nazja was more than strong enough to quell any urge Ora had to laugh at him. 

Ora climbed up first, leaning as far forward as she could without losing her balance so she could help Nazja get Ikai on.

Nazja was still curled forward defensively, and seemed to be trying to figure out a way to get herself aboard without letting go of Ikai.

“The longer this takes, the worse the injuries will get,” Ora said, kindly but firmly, trying to prod Nazja into action.

It seemed to work, since she straightened up enough for Ora to finally get a good look at Ikai. She was tiny, with curly blonde hair and fine features, maybe a few years older than Ora was. It took her a moment to spot the injury, since the tunic she was wearing had been dark red to begin with, but when she did, her sense of urgency increased significantly. There was crossbow bolt imbedded in her abdomen. 

Nazja lifted Ikai as high up as she could, and Ora maneuvered her onto Zeth’s back as delicately as possible, not wanting to move the injury any more than necessary. Nazja climbed up as soon as Ikai was secure, and Zeth took to the air, flying low over the camp in the direction of the infirmary.

Ora placed her hand on Ikai’s neck to take her pulse, which was weak, and far slower than she’d like, but definitely there. 

“How long ago was she shot?” 

“I’m not sure. I kind of blanked after I saw her go down. I only snapped out of it when I got to the border,” Nazja admitted. 

For all her stubborn insistence that she stay with Ikai, Nazja wasn’t helping much, but Ora suppressed any outward signs of annoyance at the lack of answer, if only for the sake of professionalism. 

They landed before she had a chance to ask any other questions. They reversed the process they’d used to get Ikai on to remove her, and Ora quickly thanked Zeth before heading into the infirmary.

Nazja had already laid Ikai on a cot and was rifling through the supplies. She seemed to know her way around them, which made Ora feel a bit guilty for immediately assuming she wouldn’t be any help.

“Is there a knife anywhere?” 

Nazja handed her one, and Ora cast the rune for “clean” on it. She normally wouldn’t waste magic like that, but she had to move quickly.

She sliced Ikai’s tunic open and shifted the fabric away from the bolt, glad that Nazja had had the good sense to leave it in.

Upon removing the shirt, she let out an involuntary gasp. The wound itself was as good as she could hope for, all things considered, but there was a different problem. Every blood vessel leading away from the wound was stained a bright, glowing purple.

“Is that poison?” Nazja asked. Her voice was strained.

“Worse,” Ora said. “It’s a magical immunizer. Magic won’t work on any part of her that’s glowing like that.”

Ora had never seen an immunizer in person, much less had to treat someone under the effects of one, but she knew enough to recognize one when she saw it. 

“Is there any way to stop the spread?”

“Not that I know of. Besides, it’s all concentrated around where the worst damage is. I’ll do what I can, but we’ll have to wait for it to filter out naturally before I can do any magical healing,” Ora said grimly.

Nazja didn’t say anything in response, but Ora heard her sit down heavily on the ground.

“Don’t give up on me now. I’ll need bandages and salve. Is everything here labelled?”

Ora saw Nazja nod out of the corner of her eye. 

“Right. Glaieul should do nicely.”

Once Nazja had started looking, Ora cast both her hands clean, and started looking for the best way to remove the bolt. 

It had gone in quite deep, and based on the positioning, had likely punctured Ikai’s liver. That was survivable, if she’d been able to repair it with magic, but without it…

“Priestseye too, please,” she called to Nazja, cutting off that line of thinking before it could go any further.

Nazja dropped everything she had asked for onto the bed beside her, and Ora got to work.

She cast everything clean, except the bolt and the skin around it, which she rubbed the glaieul on. It was a strong disinfectant, one she didn’t use unless it was absolutely necessary. It tended to corrode things if too much was used.

With everything as clean as she could get it, Ora carefully removed the bolt, though she knew there was no way to completely avoid creating further damage. She put the bolt aside and used one of the bandages to staunch the bleeding while she grabbed the priestseye. 

She dumped a good amount into the wound, and a bit around it. It promoted tissue growth, so with any luck, it would speed up the healing process a bit. 

Ora had Nazja prop Ikai up so she could wrap bandages around the wound more easily. The placement of the puncture was awkward, and changing the dressings was going to be a pain.

“Alright. You can lay her down.” 

She was about to remind Nazja to go slowly, but she didn’t have to. She handled Ikai tenderly, nervously, like she was afraid of breaking her. That was probably for the best, all things considered.

“That’s as much as I can do, for now,” Ora said, once Nazja had released Ikai. “I’ll stay with her, but you should go talk to Aelyss.”

“Let me know if anything changes.”

“I will,” Ora promised.

Nazja was clearly still reluctant to leave, but after a few seconds of hesitation, she brushed some hair away from Ikai’s forehead, stood, and walked out of the tent. 

***

Ilei came in about half an hour later, while Ora was familiarizing herself with the available materials.

“Hey,” she said, coming up behind Ora and placing her chin on her shoulder. 

Ora felt her stiffen as soon as she processed the action, and suppressed the urge to laugh. Ilei had always been almost painfully respectful of her boundaries, and it had only gotten worse since they’d decided to give the whole courting business a try.

“Hello,” Ora said, leaning back slightly into Ilei in an attempt to reassure her that she hadn’t overstepped.

“How’s she doing?”

Ora glanced over at Ikai. “No change, really. She hasn’t gotten worse, and that’s really all we can hope for.

Ilei hummed thoughtfully, and Ora let the ensuing silence hang for a bit, happy to have a moment of peace, however fleeting.

“How did you know she was here?” she asked, turning her head a bit so she could see Ilei’s face.

“Ral and I went to see what was going on when the leaves changed color, and we ran into Aelyss and Epari coming back from outside. They let us sit in on their meeting with Nazja.”

She sounded… cautious. Like she was going to say something that she knew Ora would be upset by.

“Go on.”

“The party was ambushed, and the two other members didn’t make it back. One of them, Madaron, was in charge of the battle camp. He was killed. The other one, Xael, surrendered when Ikai was shot. Aelyss insisted it wasn’t genuine, but since we can’t prove it either way…” Ilei trailed off.

“Right,” she sighed. “What else?”

“One of the people that attacked them… Well, we can’t be sure, obviously, but-”

“Ixaya?” Ora asked, resigned to it at this point.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Ilei wince. 

“Yeah.”

Ora extricated herself from Ilei’s embrace to rub tiredly at her eyes. “At least we know the trip was worth it.”

Ilei huffed out a laugh, but it fell a bit flat. “We didn’t want to say anything without running it by you first, but Ral and I thought it’d be best for us to stay here for a while, at least until we get word about Xael.”

Ora nodded. “Probably. And I’d like to stay with Ikai for as long as I can. She’s not out of danger yet, by any stretch.”

“Right. I’ll go talk to Aelyss.” Ilei started to head out, but paused at the tent flap and turned back to look at her. “I’ll bring you dinner?”

Ora smiled. “If you would.”

***

Ora spent the next three days in the infirmary. She only left when Nazja came to visit, and even then, it was just to go outside and stretch her legs.

Her friends came to see her with food and updates, though there weren’t many. During one of Ilei’s visits, Ora accidentally fell asleep on her shoulder and only woke up when Nazja arrived and got into a yelling match with Ilei.

“- if something had happened?”

“She’s human too, you know! She’s been awake for nearly two days, and she’s dead on her feet! Would you rather she treat Ikai like that?”

“Well _someone_ should be watching her!”

“What, exactly, do you think I’ve been doing for the past hour?”

“She’s been asleep for _an hour_?”

Ora’s sleep-fogged mind had finally gleaned enough from the conversation for her to intervene.

She sat up and clapped once, loudly enough to attract the attention of both women.

“Out!” she snapped. “Both of you. _Now_.”

They listened.

Ora hadn’t slept since then, and she’d been treating her annoyingly persistent exhaustion headache with the maximum safe dose of the available herbs.

Noon on the third day arrived without a visit from Nazja, the longest it had been between visits so far.

Ora’s concerns, however, lay elsewhere. 

The immunizer had been steadily spreading through Ikai’s body throughout the past few days. It was easy to track, between the colour and luminescence, and Ora wasn’t particularly worried by it, since it was behaving exactly as she had expected it to. The problem was the wound itself, which had grown swollen and red. Infected, and by something her available resources couldn’t treat. She’d used so much glaieul at this point that she was afraid adding more would cause more problems than it would solve, and the priestseye was closing the wound, but it wasn’t treating the infection. She was running out of options.

She needed magic.

Zeth had brought in a tree at the end of the first day, a potted sapling like the one in Aelyss’ tent, so Ora could contact her in an emergency.

Ora put her hand on the trunk the way she’d seen Zeth do, and spoke hesitantly.

“Aelyss?”

_Yes?_ hummed the tree.

“Ikai’s getting worse, and I need someone with a lot of blood.”

There was a long pause.

_What?_

Ora made a frustrated noise and rand a hand roughly through her hair.

“I need someone with either a lot of blood or a strong healing factor so that I can replace Ikai’s blood with blood that _doesn’t_ have immunizer in it so I can treat an infection with magic,” she said quickly, hoping that she didn’t sound _too_ crazy. She had gone a while without sleeping. 

_Okay_ , said the tree. Ora removed her hand and went back to Ikai. 

She’d only done this once before, and the circumstances hadn’t been nearly as bizarre, but she had gotten it to work then, and she could do it again. 

She shifted Ikai down the bed so her feet were hanging over one end, then tracked down a bowl and placed it under them.

As she was finishing adjusting it, Nazja burst in, looking harried.

“Aelyss sent me,” she said by way of greeting.

Ora frowned critically at her. She was significantly larger than Ikai, sure, but taking enough blood from her to fully replenish Ikai’s supply would probably still kill her.

When she tried to explain this, however, Nazja just shook her head.

“I’m a berserker,” she explained, turning and lifting her hair so Ora could see the tattoo on the nape of her neck. “I’ll be fine, just let me help her.” 

“Alright,” Ora relented, “sit down.”

Nazja did as she asked, and Ora got to work.

It made sense, she thought, making a small nick on Nazja’s neck, and a matching one on Ikai’s. The immunizer hadn’t spread there, yet. Blanking out and running all the way home from a battlefield while carrying an injured loved one was something only a berserker could manage.

“Mehrei aulmye,” Ora said under her breath, drawing the second rune as she spoke it. _Blood_. She’d never really felt the need to tattoo that one. 

A thin line of blood now connected the nicks on each of their necks, and Ora checked that the blood was flowing the right way before making her way to the other end of the bed and making a small cut on each of Ikai’s heels so the tainted blood had somewhere to go. She watched as a drop of glowing purple blood dripped from Ikai’s right foot and into the waiting bowl, and slumped forward in relief. It was working.

“Do _not_ move,” Ora said, pointing a commanding finger at Nazja as she came back around to the head of the bed so she could monitor the draining of the immunizer.

It was slow going, with the line as thin as it was, and after twenty minutes the clean blood was just starting to reach the wound.

“Nearly there.”

Nazja didn’t respond, but Ora thought she saw some of the tension leave her body.

A few more minutes passed, the wound was clear enough of immunizer for Ora to start using magic.

After a solid clean and the most powerful healing rune she could cast without completely draining herself, the infection was pretty much gone, and she severed the bloodline. 

“You can move now,” she said, leaving the bed so Nazja could sit by Ikai and returning to the other end to bandage Ikai’s feet.

“Naji?” said a groggy, unfamiliar voice. Then, a few seconds later. “Why’re you crying?”

“I’m not, shut up,” Nazja griped, but she sounded fond.

“No,” Ikai inisted. “You are. It’s weird, stop it.”

Nazja laughed. It sounded watery.

“I’ll give you two a moment,” Ora said, deciding that now was the right time for a tactical retreat. She wasn't sure if either of them noticed her leave, but it didn’t matter. Her job, for now, was done, and she had earned a nap.


	9. The Harvest Festival

Ora woke to someone shaking her shoulder. 

It was Ilei, sitting on the ground beside Ora’s mat with a plate in her lap.

“Hey,” she said softly. “I brought breakfast.”

Ora shut her eyes, trying to calculate how long she’d been asleep.

“It’s midmorning,” Ilei supplied. “I figured you needed more sleep than usual, but you probably shouldn’t mess up your schedule too badly.”

Ora hummed in agreement and sat up. She felt rested, and the headache that had been plaguing her was gone.

Ilei handed her the plate, which contained two slices of bread and some jam. 

Ora took her time eating (she hadn’t had jam since she’d left her village), and Ilei waited in silence while she finished, though she was shifting around so much it was clear that she had something on her mind.

“What’s wrong?” Ora asked, putting down the second piece of bread, only half-eaten, when she decided she couldn’t put up with it any longer.

Ilei startled. “What? Nothing’s wrong.”

“Something’s on your mind.”

“Well, I mean…” Ilei stopped and let out a short laugh. “It’s silly.”

“That’s never stopped you before,” Ora teased, and Ilei gave her a betrayed look, which made her laugh.

“Come on, you know I don’t mean that. What did you want to say?”

Ilei hesitated for a moment longer before finally relenting.

“There’s… a party, tonight. To celebrate the end of the harvest. I was wondering if you wanted to go.”

Ora frowned. “Even after what happened with the scouting party? Isn’t that a bit disrespectful?”

“Aelyss said it was important to try and keep things as normal as possible for everyone,” Ilei explained. “I think she needs a break, anyway. She’s in charge of both camps, now, and it’s a lot of work for one person, especially without any time to prepare.”

“I suppose that’s true. Do you know if she needs us to do any-”

Ilei cut her off with a scolding wag of her finger. “No no, none of that. You’ve done enough in the past few days getting Ikai back to full strength. You’re off the hook.”

Ora still felt like she should be helping somehow, and it must have shown, because Ilei’s demeanor softened immediately.

“Bahral took a guard shift to free up some permanent residents so they could help, Eju is taking full advantage of their bossiness to keep everyone on track, and Katali was recruited as a volunteer seamstress. Everyone who _hasn’t_ been on their feet for seventy-two hours is contributing, so you can relax for today, alright?” 

“Okay, okay, I’m convinced,” Ora said, raising her hands in surrender.

“Good, because unlike you, I can’t just knock you out to keep you from leaving.”

“How do you even remember that? You were delirious!”

“Some things stick in your mind, I guess,” Ilei said, though she was avoiding Ora’s eyes and looked a little pinker than before.

Ora, very graciously, decided not to press.

“Now, I know I’m forbidden from helping, but I would like to go outside for a bit. I’ve been cooped up in a tent for far too long to stay in here all day.”

“That,” Ilei said, standing and offering Ora a hand up, “I can allow.” 

***

Ilei and Ora spent a very pleasant morning and early afternoon together, wandering around the camp and talking. Ilei was very unsubtle about keeping Ora away from the action, but Ora couldn’t really say that she minded.

At some point they found a grassy area where there was very little foot traffic and settled there. The conversation tapered off into comfortable silence, which Ora thought was just as nice. Ilei eventually sprawled out on her back in the grass, nominally to enjoy the sun, but Ora suspected that she was taking a nap.

A short while later, Ora noticed the distant figure of Bahral wandering around the nearby tents and waved him over.

His face split into a grin when he noticed her, and he started jogging in her direction right away.

“Hey Ora!”

“Hello,” she replied, smiling automatically in response. 

Bahral wasn’t paying much attention to where he was stepping, so Ora decided it was in everyone’s best interest for her to issue a warning about sleeping lady knights hidden by the tall grass.

“Watch out for-”

Bahral’s foot connected with something right as she started speaking, and he collapsed with a shouted curse.

“-Ilei,” Ora finished, wincing sympathetically.

“I hate you,” Ilei groaned from the ground. “I hate you so much.”

“Who naps in the middle of a public place?”

“You! Literally all the time!”

“At least I make sure I’m visible!”

“If you watched where you were going, then that wouldn’t be necessary!”

“I don’t think either of you is going to come out of this argument looking good,” Ora pointed out.

Ilei and Bahral gave her identical wounded looks, but stopped arguing and turned their disastrous position into something more akin to a cuddle pile. 

“How was your shift?” Ora asked.

“Pretty boring,” Bahral said with a shrug. “Nothing really happened. I did see a deer though!”

“All things considered, it’s probably better to have a boring shift than an exciting one.”

Bahral made a noncommittal noise, and they lapsed into silence for a while. Then Bahral jolted upright, as though an idea had suddenly occurred to him. 

“Can I braid your hair?” he asked, looking at Ora expectantly. 

“What? Why?”

“Because I want to, I’m good at it, and it’ll look _awesome_ for the party,” Bahral said, ticking off the reasons on his fingers as he listed them.

“I can vouch for him,” Ilei piped up from the ground, still partially trapped under Bahral. “He’s good.”

Bahral pointed emphatically at Ilei. “See?”

“Alright,” Ora said, still a bit uncertain. It seemed like a bit of a strange thing to ask for, especially out of the blue like this, but Bahral was far too excited to say no to. It would be like punching a unicorn. 

Bahral made a sound that would probably have been a squeal, had he been a lesser man, and scrambled off of Ilei to kneel behind Ora.

He started running his fingers through her hair, working out the tangles. He was surprisingly gentle, and the repetitive motion of it was actually quite soothing.

“Ilei!” he called after a few minutes, snapping Ora out of the half-doze she’d fallen into. “Find me some flowers!”

Ilei propped herself up on her elbows and gave him an affronted look. “You never put flowers in my hair!”

“You never deserve it. Go!”

Ilei grumbled a bit, but eventually got up and walked off, quickly disappearing from Ora’s field of vision.

“Her hair is a nightmare to work with. It slips out of everything I try to do to it after a few minutes,” Bahral explained once she was out of earshot. “I tried flowers once and they’d all fallen out before we even left the house.”

Ora laughed. “How did you learn, then?”

“I used to hate haircuts, so for a while my hair was longer than yours. My sisters taught me how to braid it.”

A smile crept onto Ora’s face at the mental image. “You have sisters?”

“Yup! Twins, four years older than me.”

Ilei reappeared then, dropping a handful of daisies beside Bahral and resuming her earlier position.

“He’s the runt of the family.”

Ora laughed again. She couldn’t picture Bahral being the runt of _anything_ , including a clan of giants.

“No, seriously,” Ilei insisted. “Delle and Tare are both taller than him.”

“Is that true?” Ora asked, twisting her head slightly so she could look at Bahral.

He nodded. “The only one in the family that’s shorter than me is my mom.”

“Really?”

“Mhm. She’s about your height.”

Ora had a silent moment of sympathy for that poor woman and her gigantic family.

“Don’t be fooled,” Bahral said, leaning over to pick up some flowers, “she’s the scariest of us all.”

Ilei’s head appeared over the grass, and she nodded sagely. “Oh, definitely. Do you remember the Lichen Incident?”

Ora felt Bahral shudder behind her. 

“As if I could forget.”

“The Lichen Incident?” Ora asked, somewhat unsure of whether or not she actually wanted the answer.

She was treated to a lively retelling of the story, which somehow left her absolutely petrified of a woman she’d never met. 

That story led into another, and that one into another, and so on until Bahral pronounced her finished.

Ora could see the tail of the braid if she pulled it over her shoulder, and she had to admit it was very well done, but it didn’t really give her much of an idea of what it looked like on _her_.

“Ilei, stop mooning and bring over your sword!” Bahral called, bringing Ora’s attention away from the braid.

“I was not mooning,” Ilei grumbled when she’d made her way over to them.

“You definitely were,” Bahral said, pulling her sword from its sheath and angling it so Ora could see her reflection in the blade.

Bahral hadn’t been exaggerating about his skill. The braid had come out beautifully.

“Thank you,” she said, turning to smile at him. “I love it.”

“Hey, it’s no big deal,” Bahral scoffed, waving her off, but she could tell he was pleased.

“Well,” Ilei said, inclining her head toward the tents. “I think it’s about time we head over.”

“My ban is lifted, then?” Ora joked, standing up and stretching her back a bit. 

“Still no helping,” Ilei said firmly.

Bahral raised an eyebrow at her. “I really don’t think _you_ of all people are qualified to judge her for overworking herself.”

Ilei jabbed an accusatory finger at him and opened her mouth to retort, but apparently came up empty.

“Shut up.”

“He’s right, you know,” Ora said.

“You can shut up too.”

***

The party was already in progress by the time they arrived in the center of camp. There were plenty of people gathered around talking together, tables laid with food, colourful banners hanging from the nearby tents, and a wooden platform off to one side that Ora suspected was a stage.

Ora was suddenly glad that Ilei had been so insistent about keeping her away earlier. She wasn’t sure she would’ve been able to handle so large a crowd for so long.

“I’m going to grab some food. Do you want anything?” Ilei asked.

“Whatever’s easiest, I’m not picky,” Ora said, grateful that she wouldn’t have to navigate the crowd for at least a little bit longer.

Ilei nodded, then started weaving her way over to the food tables.

“Do you see Katali and Eju anywhere?” she asked Bahral, since he had a significantly better vantage point than she did.

“Eju’s talking to Aelyss and Epari over there,” Bahral said, pointing over the heads of the crowd to a point Ora couldn’t see, “and Katali’s over by the stage.”

Ora could actually see her, talking to a girl around her age holding a fiddle and gesturing animatedly with the bow.

Satisfied that everyone was present and accounted for, Ora relaxed a fraction, and was about to strike up a conversation with Bahral, when she noticed the way he was still looking over at where Aelyss, Eju and Epari supposedly were and shifting restlessly from foot top foot.

Ilei had explained, during their walk that morning, that Bahral had developed something of a crush on Aelyss over their stay, and was, according to her, not handling it well.

Ora wasn’t exactly equipped to give romantic advice, but she could give it a try.

“Go talk to her if you want to.”

Bahral jumped. He looked more anxious than Ora felt the situation merited, given that he routinely fought monsters three times his size without batting an eye.

He laughed nervously. “Well, it’s, she- and I don’t want to leave you alone or anything, y’know-”

“Babbling doesn’t suit you,” Ora said, in her most no-nonsense voice. “And I’ll be fine. Ilei will be back in a few minutes anyway.” 

Bahral still didn’t seem certain, so Ora switched tactics and gave him a firm shove between the shoulderblades. It didn’t actually move him, but it seemed to get through to him, and he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and vanished into the crowd.

Ora smiled at his retreating back, right up until a tap on her shoulder startled her into paying attention to her immediate surroundings again.

“Yes?” she said, turning to face whoever was trying to get her attention.

It was Ikai, looking much healthier than she had last time Ora had seen her, though Nazja was still hovering beside her and supporting some of her weight.

“Hi!” she said brightly. “I know you already know me, but we haven’t been formally introduced, and I wanted to thank you.”

“Oh, that’s not necessary-”

“No, it absolutely is.” Ikai patted Nazja’s arm, and her smile shifted from cheerful to mildly threatening. “She’s always a complete nightmare to whichever poor soul ends up treating me when I get hurt, and I make it a point to thank them for putting up with her.” 

Nazja looked sheepish, and muttered a reluctant, “Sorry”.

Ora laughed awkwardly. “Thank you, but it’s really alright. I was a midwife back at my old village, and I’ve had a few first time fathers that were much worse.”

Ikai rolled her eyes. “Oh, tell me about it.”

“You’re a healer too?”

“Not really, but I know my way around plants, and since we don’t have an actual healer here, I’m usually the one who ends up in the role when we need one.”

“Doesn’t do much good when you’re always the one getting hurt,” Nazja grumbled under her breath.

“Two major injuries in the past five years, Naji. And this one wasn’t even my fault!”

Ora didn’t dare ask what the other injury was, and she was saved from having to by the timely arrival of Ilei, carrying two very full plates.

“Is this the one you got into a screaming match with?” Ikai asked as soon as she noticed Ilei, cutting herself off mid-retort.

“Yeah,” Nazja replied, clearly not pleased at being put on the spot again.

Ikai raised her eyebrows significantly at her, and Nazja forced out another quiet apology, which Ilei accepted with a grin.

“Hey, I probably would’ve acted the same way if Ora got hurt.”

“Oh!” Ikai chirped, “Are you two married as well?”

Ora, who’d taken a bite out of a leg of chicken while the others were talking, promptly choked on it.

She managed to cough it out of her system, with help from a few hardy slaps on the back from Ilei, and attempted to recover her dignity with a simple:

“Uh, no. We’ve only been together a little over two weeks, actually.” 

Nazja looked like she wanted to vanish into the ground, and probably bring Ikai with her, but Ikai was completely unaffected.

“My mistake! Anyway, Naji and I should probably get going. I’ve been standing a while, and I should probably take a break before I end up needing your services again.”

Ikai punctuated her sentence with a gentle but pointed tug on Nazja’s arm, and the two wandered off, bickering quietly about whether or not Nazja should carry her. 

“They seem nice,” Ilei finally said, causing Ora to laugh involuntarily.

Ilei smiled back at her, and the moment seemed to pause, loaded with an undercurrent of _something_ that Ora couldn’t quite name.

It was broken by music starting up in the distance, a lively tune Ora couldn’t place, but was almost certain she’d heard at some point back in her old village. 

“I love this song!” Ilei exclaimed jumping excitedly and grabbing Ora by the arms. “Come on, let’s go dance!”

Ora hated to dash Ilei’s hopes when she was so excited, but:

“I don’t know how,” she said gently, pulling her arms out of Ilei’s grasp.

Ilei looked scandalized. “You don’t know how to dance?”

“I never really got the chance to learn,” Ora explained. “In my village I only really went to festivals to make sure no one got hurt, and well…”

There hadn’t exactly been ample opportunity, before that. 

Luckily, Ilei seemed to understand that without Ora having to say it out loud.

“If I can teach you how to fight, I can teach you how to dance,” Ilei declared, taking one of Ora’s hands and pulling her through the ring of people slowly backing away to make room for the dancing. 

There were many other pairs gathered to dance, but Ilei led Ora over to a fairly bare corner where they’d have plenty of room, and fewer people paying attention to them, which Ora appreciated.

“Okay,” Ilei said, once they’d gotten situated. “This one’s a little fast to be ideal, but it’s simple.”

She laced her fingers through the hand holding Ora’s and raised their joined hands so they were held off to the side.

“Now, put your other hand on my shoulder, and I’ll…” Ilei trailed off, hesitating with her hand hovering over Ora’s waist.

“Go ahead,” Ora said, smiling at Ilei’s awkwardness and flushed cheeks.

Ilei gently placed her hand, then squared her shoulders and continued her explanation.

“So, like I said, this one’s pretty simple. Four steps forward,” Ilei guided them so Ora was walking forward, “four back, then forward again, then turn so you’re where I am. Good, again!”

Ora didn’t think she deserved a “good”, honestly. She’d stepped on Ilei’s foot during the turn, and they were going so slowly that they weren’t going on time with the music at all. She got more comfortable after the second set, and by the third they were going on time with the music.

“The music’s going to change after this one,” Ilei said during the fourth set. “And for that part we do the same thing, but it’s four steps left, four steps right, turn, repeat, then back to this.”

Ora nodded, and when the music switched she followed Ilei’s instructions to the best of her ability, and managed to avoid any major errors.

When they were back to the first step set again, Ilei’s hand left her waist to tilt her chin up. 

“You know this part now, you don’t have to look at your feet.”

Ora started to say that she didn’t want to step on Ilei’s toes again, or worse, trip over her own feet, but Ilei was smiling reassuringly at her, and her worries didn’t feel so pressing anymore. 

A few sets later, Ora was actually enjoying herself, now that she was in the rhythm of things. That, of course, was when the music changed in a way she didn’t recognize and threw her off.

“I forgot about this part,” Ilei said apologetically. “People usually mix and change partners here.”

“I think I’d like to stay with you, if that’s alright,” Ora said, tightening her grip on Ilei’s hand slightly.

“Not a problem,” Ilei replied, and the music quickly returned to the familiar.

“There’s a lift coming up,” Ilei said a little while later.

“A lift?”

“Pretty much what it sounds like. There’s two, you can watch this one and decide if you want to try it.”

Ora went up on her toes a bit to better see over Ilei’s shoulder. The lift involved one person lifting (right, that made sense) their partner up by the hips and spinning them in the air before putting them down and starting the step pattern as though nothing had happened.

It looked rather fun.

“You’d be lifting me, right?”

Ilei laughed. “We could try the other way if you wanted.”

Ora smiled back at her. “I think that would go rather poorly.”

After another partner switch, the music changed into the buildup to a lift, and Ilei dropped her hands to Ora’s hips.

“Ready?” she asked.

Before Ora had a chance to respond, she was in the air. She let out a small, involuntary squeak, and then her feet were back on the ground and the dance had restarted. She was giggling, exhilarated, and even when she stopped actively laughing, she couldn’t stop smiling. 

“Spin!” Ilei exclaimed when the music changed one final time, and they spun together on spot, faster and faster until the music came to an abrupt stop and Ora stumbled into Ilei’s chest, dizzy and laughing once again.

Ilei was laughing too. Ora pulled away a bit so she could see it, and found that their faces were much closer together than she’d anticipated.

They were both breathing hard, though Ora couldn’t tell if it was from the laughing or the dancing.

They stayed like that for a moment, suspended in time, before Ilei asked softly:

“Can I-”

Ora leaned forward to meet her before Ilei could finish her question. 

There were no explosions of divine light or sudden epiphanies about the meaning of life, or whatever other nonsense Ora had heard first kisses described as.

There was just Ilei, making a small, surprised sound and bringing her hands up to cradle Ora’s jaw, Ilei smiling so, so gently when they broke apart, and Ilei immediately leaning in to kiss her again. 

The second kiss was broken apart much more abruptly, when shouting errupted from the other end of the party.

“It’s not my fault you didn’t know anything about the person you married. You’re nothing but a traitor’s whore!”

Ora and Ilei exchanged a glance, then started to weave through the crowd toward the commotion.

“That doesn’t give you permission to attack my daughter!”

They managed, mostly thanks to Ilei, to make their way to the front of the crowd. 

The source of the argument was two women, one of which was standing protectively in front of a child. 

Ora recognized the mother and child pair, Myo, the woman who they’d helped with the harvest, and Elowyn, the girl who’d run into Bahral when they’d first arrived. Elowyn was crying, and the side of her face that Ora could see had three long scratch marks on it.

The other woman was sneering at Myo. “That girl of yours has traitor’s blood in her,” she snarled, taking a menacing step towards her. “Only a matter of time before she turns out like Xael. I’d be doing you a favour if I got rid of her!”

“That is ENOUGH!” Aelyss snapped, appearing from the crowd and stepping between the two women. She levelled the woman Ora didn’t know with a glare.

“Go home. I’ll speak with you when you’re sober.”

“I’ll go wherever I please,” the woman spat, turning her ire on Aelyss now that she was between her and her original target.

“I am not above forcibly removing you,” Aelyss replied coolly, “and I will do so if you give me a reason to. Go. Home.”

The woman looked for a moment like she was going to protest further, but she backed down and stalked off before Aelyss had to act on her threat.

“Everyone else!” Aelyss called, her voice loud enough to carry even to the back of the crowd. “If I hear word of anyone harassing Xael’s family or friends, then I will not hesitate to remove them from camp, permanently. Do I make myself clear?”

No one stepped forward to challenge her.

“Go about your business,” Aelyss said, waving her hand in what was clearly a dismissal.

The motion finally spurred Ora into action, and she squeezed her way through the retreating tide until she’d reached the trio of women.

“Ora, perfect,” Aelyss said when she noticed her. “Think you can help out this young lady?”

“Of course,” Ora replied, dropping to her knees in front of Elowyn and gently turning her face so she could see the injury better.

“That looks like it hurts,” she said sympathetically, and Elowyn nodded, sniffling a little.

“Well, you’re being very brave about it.” She looked up at Myo, who seemed to be barely holding back tears herself. “Is it alright if I use magic on her?”

Myo nodded, and Ora set about casting a “heal” rune on Elowyn’s cheek. 

The scratches knit themselves back together until they were nothing but barely visible white lines, and Ora released Elowyn’s face.

“There we are,” Ora said cheerfully. “All patched up.”

Elowyn patted her cheek, frowning like she thought Ora was lying, but her expression slowly morphed into a grin when she realized the scratches really were gone.

She turned to look expectantly at her mother, who waved her away tiredly.

“Yes, fine. Don’t cause too much trouble.”

Elowyn took off with an “I won’t!” that Myo didn’t seem particularly convinced by. 

“Did she hurt you at all?” Ora asked, getting to her feet.

Myo gave her a strained smile. “Not in any way you can fix.”

“Thank you again, Ora,” Aelyss cut in. “I didn’t get a chance to talk to you after Ikai, but I really do appreciate the help.”

“Not a problem. Least I can do, what with… Well, everything, I suppose.”

Aelyss laughed. It sounded tired. 

“That’s one way to put it. I’ll let you know if we’re in need of more medical help.”

Ora nodded, and took the dismissal for what it was, turning on her heel and making her way back to Ilei, who was waiting nearby and failing at pretending she wasn’t eavesdropping.

“You look exhausted,” she said, and Ora would’ve been insulted, but she was right, and she didn’t sound judgemental, just worried.

“I am,” Ora sighed.

“I’ll go back to the tent with you if you want,” Ilei suggested. 

Ora considered it for a moment, then shook her head. 

“I think I’d rather stay, actually. It feels like letting her win if I leave.”

Ilei was grinning at her in a way that looked almost disbelieving.

“What?”

“I really want to kiss you again,” Ilei replied, like that was something people just _said_.

“Ilei!” Ora exclaimed, glancing around to see if someone else had heard.

Ilei was laughing at her, and Ora telling her to stop only seemed to make her laugh harder, so she eventually gave up and pulled her into another kiss just to get her to be quiet.

“I want to learn another dance,” she declared when she pulled away, relying on the brief moment where Ilei was too surprised to speak to get a word in.

Ilei indulged her, and didn’t complain when she got her feet stepped on again, several times.


End file.
